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 tho.