Jahmal Harvey still refers to it as The Game: all those hours he spent on the gridiron, on the battlefield and on the streets of Vice City and San Andreas. 

Growing up in Maryland, the 21-year-old would pass much of his free time elsewhere – in the virtual worlds of Madden, Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty.

‘I was not good,’ Harvey says. ‘I’ve stopped playing the game now. I ain’t got time for it.’ These days, has a new pursuit – one he is rather better at. These days, his focus is on The Games.

There are now fewer than 200 days until the world descends on Paris, where Harvey will clamber between the ropes shouldering great expectations.

Two decades have passed since a male American boxer came home from the Olympics with gold around their neck. Andre Ward was the last. It’s a remarkable skid for a nation with such rich fighting tradition. 

Jahmal Harvey will represent the United States in boxing at the Paris Olympics later this year

Jahmal Harvey will represent the United States in boxing at the Paris Olympics later this year

The 21-year-old has won a host of national and international competitions as an amateur

The 21-year-old has won a host of national and international competitions as an amateur

Harvey struggles to explain it. All that is clear? It’s high time for a new hero. So could that be him?

‘It’d mean a lot to get the gold – of course we want to bring that back to the US,’ he says. ‘It’s just not easy – you’re in there with other Olympic boxers. The best of the best from all over the world.’

Harvey adds: ‘It’s just sports… you’re going to win some, you’re going to lose some. It’s just the fact that it only comes around once every four years.’

All that could weigh heavily on Harvey’s 125lb frame. Instead? ‘There’s really no pressure, nothing bad,’ he insists.

Harvey has already delivered on the big stage: he is a 10-time national champion and, in 2021, he became the first American male to win an elite world title since 2007. He was just 18 years old. Last year, meanwhile, he qualified for Paris with victory at the Pan American Games in Santiago.

Between now and this summer, then, the main focus is on self-preservation. Most of the hard work has been done. 

‘I’m confident in my ability to go out there and compete – and win. It’s just about getting over those obstacles of injuries,’ he says. 

'There¿s really no pressure,' Harvey says as he looks to win the US's first male gold since 2004

‘There’s really no pressure,’ Harvey says as he looks to win the US’s first male gold since 2004

In 2021, Harvey became the first American male to win an elite world title since 2007

In 2021, Harvey became the first American male to win an elite world title since 2007

Jet lag shouldn’t be a problem. Life on the US team has afforded the 21-year-old a chance to fight all over the world. Italy remains the ‘prettiest’ of his road trips.

Paris will be another one ticked off the list. ‘I never really get to see the city, for real, which is the bad part. I don’t really get to explore that much,’ Harvey says. ‘But after all the competition is over, we get to stay out there for a little bit… I’ll definitely explore the city.’ 

And then, all being well, it will be time to sample life in professional fighting. ‘I never really watched the Olympics as a kid,’ he says. ‘The first time I watched the Olympics… was 2016.’

Harvey adds: ‘We haven’t won a gold medal in so long – everybody’s just waiting for it to happen. So it would be great for me. I’d get a lot of buzz and then I’ll be a high-value fighter going into to the pro ranks.’

There is no particular path Harvey wants to tread. He would like to win a world title. That’s for sure. Beyond that, though? ‘I never really thought about what would be my dream.’

Perhaps that’s because, for most of his life, Harvey was never swept up in the glamor and glory of boxing. His dad would take him to watch parties when Floyd Mayweather was fighting. He might have stuck the TV on to see Manny Pacquiao. Unfortunately, his body clock would normally intervene.

'It'd mean a lot to get the gold - of course we want to bring that back to the US,' he says

‘It’d mean a lot to get the gold – of course we want to bring that back to the US,’ he says

‘Floyd wouldn’t fight until late – I used to always fall asleep!’ he recalls. ‘I had no interest in boxing… I never really thought about boxing, ever. 

‘I was so into football – football is still my favorite sport to this day. I watch more football than I watch boxing.’

To this day, Harvey heads back to watch his old high school games. He might still be playing if his peers hadn’t grown to tower over him. 

‘I was good at football,’ Harvey says. ‘I played running back and I played corner… but as I got older, everybody was starting to grow big.’

He explains: ‘It wasn’t even that I couldn’t compete. It was that coaches just looked at the size and just judged a book by its cover…and once I was in high school, I was like: “All right, I’m gonna just stick to boxing.” 

It was actually his football coach who, a few years ago, first pointed Harvey in the direction of the boxing gym. He was already well-versed in fighting – on the street and in school.  

‘I was always one of the smallest kids, so I just felt like people would try me,’ he recalls.

The 21-year-old plans to turn professional following the Olympic Games in Paris this summer

The 21-year-old plans to turn professional following the Olympic Games in Paris this summer

‘So, when he first told me to come up there and train, I was like: “I can’t wait to try it… all I’m thinking (is) I’m gonna get to hit somebody.”‘

Barely a month later, he was in at the deep end. ‘My coach never used to tell me who I was sparring. He just told me: “Get in there”,’ Harvey explains.

‘It’s not like I cared.’ But it turned out his first sparring partner was, in fact, a national champion. ‘I’m like: ‘Dang, I’m out here competing with the some of the best and I don’t even know it.’

Now he sits among them. Terence Crawford is Harvey’s favorite fighter and there are similarities in their switch-hitting and their tendency to respond to attacks with fire of their own. ‘When he gets hit, he comes right back,’ Harvey says. ‘That’s how I am.’

This summer, however, the 21-year-old can achieve something no one – not Crawford, not any American male boxer – has done since he was a baby. 

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Post source: Daily mail

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