If Sharrieff Wales says he can knock you out with one punch there are few around who would dare to question him.

But the 280lb super heavyweight, whose ultimate goal is to fight at next year's Athens Olympics, wants to be recognised for more than just his brute force. Put simply, he wants to be the best all round boxer Bermuda has produced.

Paget-resident Wales was one of two local boxers who brought back gold from the Caribbean Boxing Championships in the Bahamas recently.

Wales, who has boxed for three years, took the super heavyweight title, while compatriot Trace Easton was triumphant in the middleweight division.

While the result surprised many, Wales said he knew he had it within him to bring back a medal.

"Maybe some of the guys were better technical boxers, and I emphasise maybe, but I was throwing a regular jab and it felt like a straight right to them," said Wales with the air of confidence that goes hand in glove with his chosen sport.

"That is an advantage and I'll use it."

Wales, trained by Quinton Mallory and Kenneth (Manix) Simmons and who has also been schooled by Forty Rego, likened himself to former world champion Mike Tyson, obviously not in terms of what he has or will achieve, but in terms of his ringcraft.

"I don't know if he was ever a great technical boxer but he got the job done with that right," he said.

"I am putting the emphasis on the technical side and the punch is a by-product of that - if I manage to hit you, you are probably going to go down."

Wales and Easton only trained for a little over a week before heading down to Nassau and the former believes that speaks volumes about their achievement.

"We came back with two gold medals, that in itself is amazing," he said.

"Most of the people that were down there boxing were training no less than two months and some over a year.

"To go down there and do so well means we have natural talent, obviously.

"If we can train as long as they did I have no doubt that we can bring home gold medals from the Olympics."

The preparation that the pair did get in involved relocating to Darrell's Island, close to Granaway Deep.

"It was so isolated - you could only think boxing, eat boxing and sleep boxing," he said.

"I have no doubt that was part of the reason for our success. We had no other distractions - women-wise, family-wise or TV-wise. All we had were boxing tapes. We recorded ourselves, watched it and saw our mistakes and the way we fought. It was excellent."

Wales knows his main asset is literally in his own hands but he wants to ally that with some speed in the ring - a combination that would make opponents doubly wary.

"I really want to emphasise that I am not just going for that one knockout punch," he said. "But my opening left jab in both of my (Championship) fights knocked the guys across the ring.

"That was the standard that was set - my first opponent did my work for me.

"He was telling all the boxers that I punched like a truck.

"Unequivocally, my right straight is my hardest punch - if I hit anyone with that it's going to take their head off.

"But in most cases I never had a chance to throw it because my jab was doing the damage. I never really landed with my right but if I did, as far as I am concerned, it would have been lights out."

In an effort to quicken up, Wales intends to shed some of that bulk.

"I'm 280lbs now, if I can get down to 240lbs, speed equals power and I can get even more powerful," he said.

"I will be able to move better around the ring, move my feet and hands, and just be a better boxer.

"If I have got the power now and speed equals power it is going to be even more devastating."

At 30-years-old Wales believes he has only one shot at making the Olympics and he intends to make it count.

To have a chance he has to first qualify for the Pan Am Games later this year, something he is determined to do.

"I am working my butt off," he said bluntly.

"I cannot emphasise how important it is. It's a hunger and I don't think there is anybody as hungry as me right now.

"People say that's why Third World countries do so well, because they (boxers) have a hunger to get out.

"Let's just say I am in a Third World country and I am as hungry as them - that's how I feel and how I am training.

"My thoughts are constantly on it.

"Some nights I cannot even sleep for thinking about it and I'll get up and shadow box or go outside and do something.

"It's on my mind 24 hours a day."