Heading into this summers Olympics, Jahmal Harvey is widely considered America’s best hope of winning a boxing medal.
The gifted 21-year-old from Oxon Hill, Maryland, who will be competing at featherweight (57 kilograms-125 pounds), welcomes the opportunity to try to become the first American since Andre Ward in 2004 to claim gold when he competes at the Paris Games.
“I’m super confident, I’m super motivated and I’m training hard,” Harvey told The Ring. “I’m expecting nothing less than gold.
“There’s really no pressure, I’m not thinking too much about it. Yes, the gold is gold but if I didn’t get it, there really isn’t any pressure. I’m just happy I’m doing something with my life, making my family proud. Nobody can take away all the years I’ve put in to come to achieve this goal. At the end of the day, I’m doing this for myself, not everybody else.”
The U.S. team, helmed by head-coach Billy Walsh, brought several former Olympians to Colorado Springs to help prepare the team of eight, four men and four woman, for what to expect.
“I’ve been around Olympians at the Olympic training center,” he said. “We just recently had a family function where they brought in past Olympians, they brought in Olympians dating back to 1996, 2000, 2004 and so on. I’ve got good information from that. I spoke to Mikeala Mayer, Richard Torrez, Queen Underwood etc.”
Harvey says those interactions have helped him and he has one particular takeaway from those conversations.
“Distractions was the biggest thing,” he said. “They said be focused on the fight, you don’t want outside distractions, like tickets or where your family are staying. The Olympics is a beautiful thing but you want to stay focused.”
See You in Paris : The Dream of a Life Time #pais2024 #teamharvey pic.twitter.com/NsSRYcLf9Z
— Jahmal “Hard Rock “Harvey (@HarveyJahmal) November 1, 2023
Harvey, who is currently 160-9 with 10 national titles, is used to winning, having taken top prize at other tournaments while representing his country.
“As a youth I went to Bulgaria and got gold, and then I got gold in the World in my second tournament,” he said confidently. “That’s been the standard for me to go out there and get gold.
“That was great, I had a great training camp for that. Going into it I was already in training camp for the 2020 Olympics, cause it took place in 2021, not 2020. I was in there sparring with Keyshawn Davis, Duke Ragan, I was sparring with a lot of great guys. It was an international training camp, so I was sparring with Australia, Jordan, so going into the World’s, I’d done great with them guys who had just competed in the Olympics. I already had that type of motivation being so young, I could stick around with these guys.
“When I reflected on that, I just decided to stay [amateur.] I said the only thing to do to elevate it to get Olympic gold.”
When Ward won America’s last Olympic gold, Harvey was just 2-years-old.
“That was a minute ago! It definitely would [be nice to match his achievement,]” he said. “I’m trying to bring one back to the U.S. and get the American boxing back on top and show why we’re the best in the world. I have a great team around me, we’re all training with each other, doing the same thing, helping each other get better. This team is definitely going to shock the world.”
And if he could achieve that goal he’d put his name alongside extremely illustrious countrymen such as Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, who claimed Olympic gold.
“It would mean a lot to me, my dream was to get to the Olympics, after that I have to get the gold,” he said. “That’s a once in a life time opportunity that you had set back when you were a teenager. It would make me very happy.
“That would be great to put my name down with legends, mark me down in the history books for years and years to come.”
Regardless, while one day he hopes to turn professional, he’s not looking that far ahead yet.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do after the Olympics,” he said. “One day, I do look to go pro.”
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk.
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