LEWIS Williams believes qualifying for next year’s Paris 2024 Olympics is ‘just the next step’ ahead of the upcoming European Games in Krakow, Poland.
This year’s European Games take place in Poland with the boxing event to begin on Friday, June 23 with 44 Olympic qualification places on offer.
Williams hopes he can build on the gold medal he won at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games as the Leamington heavyweight attempts to secure his place in Paris next year.
Williams said: “It’s only one step [to qualify for the Olympic Games], it’s one step just to qualify, the next step is then to win it.
“It’s just a little stepping stone for me, it’s major to become an Oympian but for me it’s to be winning it.
“From the Commonwealth Games, I want to take the confidence from that and move it into my next tournament. I had a very confident and relaxed tournament in Birmingham and it showed as well.
“I’d say I do [have a target on my back] whether I’ve sparred or fought them before, we all know who the competitors are and who is dangerous.
“We’re all on the look out and trying to figure out how to beat each other, everyone has got a target on their back.
“That’s the best way to look at it, someone is coming after you so you train hard, you do everything you can because you know somebody is out there training to beat you.”
The Cleary’s Boxing Gym fighter is part of a 13-strong GB squad which includes 2021 European champion Harris Akbar and fellow Commonwealth gold medallists Delicious Orie and Reese Lynch.
Williams added: “I’ve just come back from a training camp in Italy, I did plenty of sparring and plenty of rounds, it was about as good as it could be, it was spot on.
I’ve only been working on small bits in the ring, it’s loads of small percentages that I’ve been trying to fix.
“In the boxing ring it could be the simplest thing such as not rushing and then perhaps taking my nutrition, recovery and sleep up to another level.
“There are always small details that you can improve on to improve your entire game.”
