Unlucky Lynch will keep banging on door for Olympics
From West Lothian to the Far East. Fauldhouse lightwelterweight Reese Lynch is flying to Bangkok this weekend in an attempt to keep alive his hopes of winning a place in Team GB for the Paris Olympics in July.
The 22-year-old has only an outside chance of competing in the French capital and that will depend on others suffering misfortune but Craig Mcevoy, the performance director and head coach of Boxing Scotland, believes the Scot is long overdue some good luck of his own.
Lynch has an outstanding amateur pedigree and would not look out of place at the Games. He’ll discover whether or not he’ll be given the opportunity to test himself there in the next fortnight.
“We had hoped to have Lochee’s Sam Hickey at the Games but the Olympic Committee decided to do away with the 75kg division (super-middleweight) for these Games in order to accommodate other sports,” said Mcevoy.
“Sam, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist in 2022, would have had to move up to lightheavyweight in order to qualify for a place but he chose not to. Now we’re hanging our hopes on Reese, who became Scotland’s first-ever elite medallist when he won a bronze medal at the senior world championships in Belgrade in 2021 and followed that by being one of our three Commonwealth gold medallists in Birmingham the following year.
“As things stand, he’s Team GB’S reserve boxer behind Patris Mughalzai (for an Olympic qualifier in Bangkok in a fortnight) but I just have a feeling that something is going to happen for Reese. I don’t for a minute want to wish bad luck on Patris but in boxing there’s always the potential for injury or illness to unexpectedly ruin your plans.
“In any case, I’m convinced that Reese would already have claimed his place for Paris if he hadn’t suffered consecutive injuries of his own, particularly to his ribs which saw him miss out on the multinations competitions.
“When he came back for a qualifier in Colorado Springs he won the first round impressively but then ring rust played a part in him being outpointed in a bout he would normally have won.”
Mcevoy also believes it would be a fitting tribute to Willie Limond (below), the former Commonwealth lightweight and light-welterweight champion who died last month at the age of 45, if Lynch could represent the UK at the biggest sporting event of them all.
“Willie had been working with us as a coach for three years,” said Mcevoy.
“I was keen to bring former pros to our gym so that the young guys could learn how to prepare for and deal with big bouts. He was a joiner and still worked as one but many pros don’t know anything other than boxing and they can be lost without it. I wanted to provide them with the opportunity to remain involved with the sport while also giving something back to it. Ricky Burns, Alex Arthur, Stephen Simmons and Joe Ham have done brilliantly for us in that regard. Reese was coached by Willie and if he can go to the Games and come back with a medal then that will be part of Willie’s legacy.
“As you know, he was the most positive guy you could meet, full of energy and he made an impact on our programme with his personality as much as his experience.”