Howells: Welsh hope making waves here
Lewis Howells…middle who believes honesty is best policy
IT’S the honesty – honesty to a fault – that wrong foots a writer when interviewing Lewis Howells, a Welsh middle now carving a pro career in Warwickshire.
In an era when fledgling pros ludicrously claim to be future world champs, the 26-year-old, who moved from Newport just under three years ago, believes in telling it as it is. And he’s extremely deadpan when telling it.
As Lewis told me: “I won’t lie, I’m an honest person.”
Of his last performance – a four round, one point victory over Mitchell Woollard at The Excelsior Club, Cannock, Lewis said matter-of-factly: “It was terrible, I don’t think I’ve ever performed that badly. I felt embarrassed. If they’d scored it a draw, I wouldn’t have argued.”
Of his ticket-selling prowess, the father-of-two shrugged: “I’ve not done too well. That’s because the shows are here and my mates find it difficult to travel from Wales. “
Lewis, billed out of Stratford-upon-Avon, chases his third straight pro win on Tommy Owen’s packed show at Solihull’s Planet Ice on June 10.
He may be a man who hides his light under a bushel, but there’s no denying Lewis was a top amateur. He had around 70 contests, collected a national title and represented his country.
Howells is in action again in Coventry on June 3
In fact, it was the sport that brought Lewis and wife Molly Perkins – a fellow vaunted amateur – together. They met during Team GB training in Sheffield, initially set-up home in Newport, then moved to Warwick where Molly’s parents live.
Lewis said: “I was at a stage where I stopped boxing for eight years, I finished the amateurs when I was 18. I still followed boxing.
“With the amount of fights I’d had, I knew if I started as an amateur again, I’d be in with top lads and didn’t believe I’d do that well.”
Bitten again by the bug, he decided to punch for pay. Lewis is now trained by Leamington’s Derek Fitzpatrick and managed by Jon Pegg. “I walked into Derek’s gym and we just clicked,” he said.
“My goal is to get as many fights as I can,” he stressed, “I don’t care where I fight. I’m looking to progress. If I can fight in Wales, happy days. With my amateur background, I feel a British title is something I can pick-up. A British title is the minimum goal.
“I think my strengths are speed, I’m quite tall at the weight and general boxing ability. My plan was to be a super-middleweight, I’ve never dieted throughout my whole career. The more active I am, we’ll see how the weight comes off, but I’m happy at middle right now.”
A move to light-middle (11st) may beckon.
Away from the ring, Lewis has an unusual day job. He paints white lines on roads.
That’s an occupation guaranteed to keep an individual on the straight and narrow.