FAIR OAK raised Taylor Bevan is looking forward to his Commonwealth Games debut at the end of this month – with the boxer relishing the opportunity to fight on the big stage.
Bevan will represent Wales in Birmingham starting on Thursday, July 28, with pre-games ambitions of a medal at the forefront of the boxer’s mind.

After beginning his boxing career under the guidance of father Lester at Poseidon Amateur Boxing Club, based at the Ageas Bowl, in recent months Winchester-born Bevan has moved up from fighting at middleweight to box at light heavyweight.

Whilst the 21-year-old is proud to be selected for the competition, he admitted that he had half-expected the call after working hard over the last three and a half years.

He told the Daily Echo: “I wouldn't say it was a surprise. It's something I've been working towards the last three and a half, four years, really.

“The program that I've been on with Wales has been leading up to the games, so I wouldn't say I was expecting it, but I was hoping for it, because this is what I've been working for.

”There's no one else, really, around my weight in Wales at the moment, at my level, so I did think I was going to end up going.”

Currently training in Cardiff, Bevan revealed the overall intensity of sessions had increased as the competition nears.

“The intensity picked up a bit the last few weeks,” he restarted.

“(The other) week I was out in Tenerife on a training camp.

“We had tough runs, we had tough training, we had a lot of times relaxed as well, whereas this week has been quite a lot more full-on, a lot of runs in the morning.”

Bevan’s predecessor, Sammy Lee, won gold at light heavyweight for Wales during the 2018 games, with Bevan aware of the competition he might face.

He added: “Some of the toughest nations, I think, are going to be the home nations.

“You've got England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“India is a good nation and there's a couple of good countries coming out of Africa.

“All the African nations tend to be quite strong, is what I've heard, but I'm just really looking forward to it.

“I think it's going to be a brilliant experience.

“I've never done a competition before with other sports and I've never done a competition with such a big stage and being broadcast so much.

“So I'm just looking to go and perform and hopefully by performing I’ll win a medal, and hopefully a gold medal.”

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