Reese Lynch aiming to make a Commonwealth Games name for himself as Scots boxer pays homage to famous namesake

The famous boxing surname is attached for life. But Reese Lynch is determined to make a name for himself in the coming fortnight by fighting his way to Commonwealth Games gold.

The 21-year-old might be no relation to the man who became Scotland’s first ever world champion in 1935. But just like Benny Lynch, he has already secured a place in Scottish boxing history. The Rob Roy light-welterweight became first ever Scot to win a World Championship medal at senior level last November when he took bronze in Belgrade.

And should he eclipse that and become king of the ring in Birmingham in the next couple of weeks then he has made it his intention to seek out his legendary namesake’s statue for a picture .. when it’s finally finished. In fact you can scrap the “should”. The new Lynch in town says “when” he wins gold he’ll be making a date with the bronze sculpture which is the focus of a campaign to raise funds.

And he said: “Benny Lynch was huge for Scottish boxing. I’ve heard there’s plans for a statue of him. Hopefully it gets the go ahead and I’ll go and get my picture taken beside it with my gold medal from Birmingham. That would be nice. The new Lynch in Glasgow has a good ring to it!

“Seriously though, gold is all you aim for. I doubt anyone is going to Birmingham thinking of any less. You need to believe you are going to finish on top of the podium. That’s the things dreams are made of.

“I’ve got family and friends going down to cheer for me on which you don’t normally get. When you have that there it’s like the third man in the ring and an extra motivation. It was brilliant to get the medal at the Worlds. Especially with the rest of the team there with me.

“When it got announced I was in the ring and standing