HIT AND NOT GET HIT
Reese Lynch aims to impress the judges first, fans second
REESE LYNCH doesn’t want to be remembered for having the best fights at the Commonwealth Games. Lynch sat in the crowd when the games came to Glasgow in 2014 and said: “I was there when [Scottish flyweight] Reece Mcfadden beat [world number one] Andrew Selby. That was a great fight. It was a real give and take fight.
“But I don’t want to take shots like they did. I want people to remember me as the guy who doesn’t take shots, not the guy who has great fights!”
Eight years on, Lynch represents Scotland in Birmingham and the 20-year-old southpaw from Rob Roy ABC must be among the favourites for gold at 63.5kgs given his recent form. Last November, he became the first Scot to win a medal at the World Championships when he won bronze in Serbia. That run to the semi-finals changed Lynch’s life.
He had been working with his brother in the build up to the World Championships, “pushing and pulling 300 and 400 kg air conditioning units up and down stairs in hotels and colleges. There would be two of us at the top and two of us at the bottom. It was a bit of extra strength and conditioning training!”
Lynch says he enjoyed the work – “It was a good laugh” – but left it behind after Great Britain called him up following his performances in Belgrade.
Lynch says he took up boxing at “nine or 10” after discovering he was “terrible” at football. “My brother took me on the pads when I was really young and took me to the gym in Fauldhouse,” he said. On the advice of his brother’s brotherin-law, Kiaran Smith, Lynch made the switch to Springhill and though he won Schools honours in 2014, he really blossomed as a Junior and Youth.
“The fights in the Schools were over one-and-a-half minute rounds and the ones who worked a lot usually won,” he said. “I tried to be skilled, but it was hard when they were rushing me. The two and three-minute rounds suited me better. They gave me time to pick clean shots.”
Lynch describes himself as “a sharp counter puncher with good feet who can have a fight as well” and that style has taken him to the last eight of the European Championships this year, along with medals at the Gee Bee (silver) and Boxam (bronze) tournaments.
Lynch says of the Commonwealth Games, “the only medal I want is gold” and he sparred a few rounds with Australia’s Billy Polkinghorn earlier this year – “He’s quite small, throws whipping shots” - and further back, Joe Tyers, who represents England.
Jonas Junias Jones (Namibia) is back to defend the title he won four years ago. He also won silver in Glasgow in 2014, losing the final to Josh Taylor.
‘I TRIED TO BE SKILLED BUT IT WAS HARD WHEN THEY WERE RUSHING ME. THE LONGER ROUNDS SUIT ME BETTER’