AMATEURS
Britain has yet another quality welterweight in Akbar
Britain has yet another quality welter
BRITAIN’S next generation of amateur boxers are coming through. Welterweight Harris Akbar has been a highly successful Youth and Junior but confirmed his abilities as a senior when he won the England Boxing Elite championships in 2017. He closed that out with a GB title at 69kgs before the end of the year.
He was “over the moon” to win the ABAS. “That’s the highest championships in England you can get and winning it, I couldn’t stop smiling for weeks,” Akbar said. “Against Joe Laws in the final, he’s non-stop, he was constantly pressure and pressure and pressure. Boxing him was tough as well, he brought a big crowd in. Every shot they were cheering for him and he was going ballistic with you with the shots as well. I think that was probably the toughest fight.
“I just used my range and moved round a lot.”
In the GB championships he outscored Scotland’s Stephen Newns despite damaging his right hand in the contest. “I think it was more adrenalin because in round three I felt it a bit as well but when the fight ended, the pain was unbearable,“he laughed.
Akbar is a flashy boxer by inclination. He likes to drop his hands and shuffle his feet. But the coaches on the GB squad are imposing some discipline on his style. “That’s the first thing they said, they got me to put my hands up. At least now I’m boxing a bit more with my hands [up] and that’s the main thing,” he said. Sparring with Pat Mccormack has also been an edifying experience. “I learned to keep my hands up a lot more. He’s sharp. He’s very sharp. Obviously because he’s in the top three in the world. Whenever I’ve sparred him, I’m always learning. Even if I get caught, I make sure I don’t get caught with it again. Mostly with him it’s speed,” Harris noted.
They’re part of a conveyor belt of quality British welterweights, that includes Carl Fail and Cyrus Pattinson as well. “They’re champions. Cyrus went and won the GBS. Pat Mccormack’s the national champion, number three in the world and Carl Fail went and won the national championships in 2016,” Akbar said.
Harris is hoping to stand out himself at international competitions coming up this year. First up for him will be the Gee Bee tournament. “Last year it was Kazakhstan and all the big, top boxers came down,” he noted. “The standards are very high. Cuba and that went down as well. Serious people. “That’ll be the first tournament of this year. I can’t wait. I can’t wait to get back in the ring, it’s been a while I’ve been out.”
“I’m boxing in the Gee Bee in Finland in March and then hopefully we get selected for the under 22 Europeans too, which is also taking place in Romania,” he continued. “I think I’ll come back with a medal and that will put a statement out and that will put me on Podium too. That will put my name out as well in senior boxing.
“I just feel really confident. With Team GB I’ve been working on a lot of stuff, getting sharp. Little bits I can do to my boxing. I can’t wait to get in, get under the lights and show people this is what I can do now.”
‘I CAN’T WAIT TO GET IN AND SHOW PEOPLE THIS IS WHAT I CAN DO NOW’
HOW did you get started in boxing?
I was nine years old. My dad used to box. A few lads from school were going down the gym. I thought I’d go down and beat a few people up! But you go down there and it’s not that easy.
I stuck with it, carried on and carried on and realised what you can get from boxing.
What’s your club, Cleary’s, like?
My gym’s set out like the Ingle gym in Sheffield. My coach [Edwin Cleary] went to train with Brendan when Naseem Hamed was on the rise so it’s just the same as there. All the philosophies of Brendan Ingle and so on. They called it in Boxing News one time, the mini-ingles. All the footwork drills, the first thing you do is footwork drills, that’s always the same and then loads of sparring. It’s a good laugh and everything.
What have been the highlights of your career so far?
Definitely getting on GB. Winning the Haringey Box Cup two years running, because I jumped from Youth level to senior level and got gold and boxer of the tournament.
My first major international was as a Youth, they sent me to the World championships. That was my first tournament as an international and it was the hardest one. I got to the quarters, so I was fighting for bronze and I lost to Uzbekistan.
That was an amazing trip. I went out to St. Petersburg in 2016. It was a huge arena. I was used to having amateur bouts on club shows where things can go wrong. This was a huge tournament, world class and felt like a professional event. It really was a big eye opener. Did you notice much of a step up when you boxed as a senior?
They were a bit bigger and most of the people were more serious about the sport as well. Teenagers will go to the gym but adults are probably a bit more dedicated. Maybe they’ll be close to turning professional. But I didn’t find too much of difference because I’d been 17
‘THERE WERE NEW PEOPLE AT THE TOP AND I HAD TO BEAT THEM’