Andre Lambe, Bermuda’s most promising amateur boxer, will be gunning for the first victory of his fledgling career when he takes on Nick Hoover, of Canada, at Teachers Rugby Fight Night in April.

Lambe, 18, suffered a tough points defeat in his amateur debut against Christopher Gooch, from Ashburn, Virginia, at Berkeley Institute 12 months ago.

The wiry southpaw, who trains under Allan “Forty” Rego, admits that nerves got the better of him against Gooch, but believes he is better equipped both mentally and physically for his ring return.

“I’m definitely hungrier now,” Lambe said. “I trained pretty hard for my last fight, but, when it came to the fight, anxiety kicked in and all that kind of stuff.

“I had the fight already planned out in my head, but when I went in there, I rushed my whole game plan and got it wrong. It was a good learning experience, though, and [Gooch] was a good fighter, I have to give him that.”

Lambe, who attends Bermuda College, headed to Orlando, Florida, this week with Rego and Nikki Bascome, his gym stablemate, who makes his professional debut tomorrow night in Haines City.

As well as supporting Bascome as he begins his path to professional glory, Lambe has been stepping up his preparations in the Sunshine State by sparring rounds with Christian Rivera, a top Puerto Rican amateur.

“I’ve been boxing for little over a year but I haven’t had many fights,” said Lambe, a former CedarBridge Academy pupil. “I’ve been doing a lot of training, though, and I’ve done a lot of sparring with Nikki [Bascome].

“It’s good to learn how to spar at this early stage of my career. Obviously, Nikki is going pro while I’m still an amateur, so I hope to learn a lot of the tricks that he knows.

“I’ve been to Florida a few times now to do some training and gained a lot of experience. It’s so different seeing how the guys train there.”

He may still be fighting in the amateur ranks, but Lambe said that he has been training like a professional for his bout against Hoover.

Boxing out of the Fifth Round Martial Arts Academy in Stratford, Ontario, 18-year-old Hoover primarily specialises in the discipline of Muay Thai, which could give Lambe, a pure boxer, a distinct advantage.

“I’ve been training six days a week for my next fight,” said Lambe, who will fight in the junior lightweight division.

“I’ve been doing a lot of running before I go to school and working on my combinations, my cardio and getting my jab going; things like that.”

Despite having aspirations to make a living from the “hurt game”, Lambe freely admits that he is not aggressive by nature and always shied away from fighting in the schoolyard or in the streets.

It was not until he attended Teachers Rugby Fight Night in 2012 with some friends that he caught the boxing bug and was surprised when he discovered he had a hidden talent for pugilism.

“When I first went to watch Fight Night, I thought that boxing might be something I’d like to try,” said Lambe, who models his style on Erislandy Lara, the brilliant Cuban southpaw, who defected to box professionally in 2008.

“When I started boxing, I found I had a talent for it. I’d never fought anybody on the streets or anything like that. I was never a fighter at school, but I soon realised this was my thing, so I quit football and cricket.”

Teachers Rugby Fight Night will be held at Berkeley Institute on Saturday, April 5.