RAF's light heavyweight champion aiming to retain Inter Services title

RAF boxer Sergeant Cameron Lewis is looking for back-to-back Inter Services wins when the championships take place in April.

The RAF Odiham-based competitor won the light heavyweight championship when he beat the Army's Fusilier Connor Moore in the final last year.

He has no intention of letting go of the gold in 2025 and is prepared to deal with the pressure of being defending champion.

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"It was a massive achievement [winning last year]," said Sgt Lewis.

"I did the development championships two years prior so obviously, that was a natural progression.

"I guess there's always pressure and you always get nerves with any boxing whether it’s in front of five people or 500 people.

"There's always going to be pressure and nerves but I've just got to do my best and that’s good enough for me."

Wanting a national championship

If he is able to successfully defend his championship, Sgt Lewis will go on to compete at the National Amateur Boxing Championships.

In 2024, he lost at the pre-quarter final stage and his experience of that is driving him to aim for better results this year.

"A national title is a massive goal of mine and has been since I started boxing," said the boxer, who started his career at Kingsway Club in Widnes as a teenager.

"If you get that, that's when you start looking at boxing for your country and getting an England vest. I’ll work as hard as I can and take it in my stride."

An improving RAF boxing scene

The 2024 Inter Services were the closest battle in a number of years with only a walkover victory handing the Army the title ahead of the other two services.

The three wins on the night saw Air Specialist Class 1 Blaine Lambert and Air Specialist Class 1 Selby Grace join Sgt Lewis as service champions.

He thinks the improvement inside RAF boxing is due to the hard work behind the scenes.

He said: "It's got to be down to people who have came into the service. It's a great depth of boxing and also the coaching set-ups.

"Although we don't have a direct centre of boxing, the coaches really push it and give us what we need coaching-wise."