Amateur boxers Andre Lambe and Tyler Christopher are feeling good about their chances of putting in a good showing at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend.

The pair, who fight out of Allen “Forty” Rego’s Gym, are competing for the first time in the tournament cofounded by bodybuilding legend and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and are determined to put their best foot forward in the ring.

Southpaw Christopher enters the tournament high on confidence after his unanimous points victory against Golden Gloves winner Gilbert Vargas on the Nikki Bascome undercard at the Fairmont Southampton last Saturday night.

“Beating a Golden Gloves champion just gives us the confidence to go out there and do good,” said Christopher, whose record stands at 6-1. “That puts a battery in my pack to go out there and bring back some medals for Bermuda.

“The rounds are only two minutes and we fight three-minute rounds. We’re up here sparring with professionals, so I think we will be all right.

“Hopefully, we can come back with some medals for our country.

“This is my first tournament and my first time fighting abroad, so I am looking forward to it.”

Southpaw Lambe, who has also beaten Golden Gloves winner Vargas, is also making his tournament debut anywhere. “It’s a big competition,” Lambe said. “We have been training hard and all we can do now is go there and expect the best.

“I want to be the best I can be and I’m not nervous about my ability. I just want to be able to go there and do everything I usually do.

“I expect better competition than I’ve had before. In any tournament you never know what to expect, but I have had some pretty good sparring here with Nikki [Bascome] and Tyler [Christopher] and a couple of other guys.

“We also get some competition out in Florida. A lot of the guys we spar with out there are Golden Gloves champions, and Tyler and I just beat a Golden Glove champion, so we are pretty much on the level where we need to be. Mentally, we just need to be ready.”

Bascome, who extended his unbeaten professional record to 6-0 after unanimous points win over Guyanese Iwan Azore, has enjoyed success at the Arnold Sports Festival and gym owner and trainer Rego hopes Lambe and Christopher can be just as prosperous.

“Nikki went to the Arnold Sports Festival, where he won gold and silver,” Rego said. “This is a start for Andre and Tyler, and I am hoping the same thing works for them.”