Scott Forrest is making something of a name for himself in Scottish boxing, with a string of strong performances over the past 12 months, culminating in a senior title at the 2013 Scottish Championships.

“My best experience so far was winning a silver medal at the World Youth Championships last year”, says the light heavyweight, who has now won a Scottish Championships title for five years in a row. Having started out boxing for fun, Forrest is now turning his focus towards Glasgow 2014, and his first Commonwealth Games.

Scott says: “It’s something I’ve always been interested in since I was a kid. I started off in my local club and it was never anything serious, it was just a hobby, but I’ve just tried my best throughout and I’ve gotten better and better.”
“Training up ahead of the Commonwealth Games has been brilliant. I’ve been all over the world and it’s just been a great experience seeing everything.”

Scotland’s boxers have won a medal at every Commonwealth Games since they started in 1930, and Scott has ambitions to join the ranks of Callum Johnson, Kenny Anderson, Craig McEwan and Stephen Simmonds by winning a medal in Glasgow.

“Glasgow is a great opportunity”, says Forrest. “To be able to compete in front of the home crowd would be a fantastic experience and you saw in London that there’s no better crowd than the ones here in Britain. A home crowd will always push you that wee bit further.

“I just need to keep doing well, and get a few international bouts under my belt before the Games. The more fights you win, the more points you get, which will all add up to securing a place on Team Scotland for the Games.”

The competition for places for the Games is hot, but Scott is focused on his own plans. “I’m not worried about anyone else. I’m confident that I can do this”, he says. “I’m at college studying sport and fitness but I can still fit in at least two training sessions a day but I quite often do three. Glasgow would be the biggest tournament I’d have competed at so far and then I’d love to go to Rio in 2016 for the Olympics.”

You can follow Scott on Twitter @ScottForrest94

Photo Credit: Alistair Devine