Andre Lambe claimed the Novice welterweight division title at the Arnold USA Invitational Championships — despite not stepping into the ring.

Lambe was awarded the belt after all five boxers in his class withdrew rather than face the southpaw at the sports festival in Columbus, Ohio, at the weekend.

The 21-year-old said his opponents pulled out as they were frightened to fight him after watching him doing pad work with his coach Pelon Andrade during a warm-up.

“It’s disappointing that I didn’t get to fight but we still come home with the title,” said Lambe, of Forty Rego’s Gym.

“There were no training rooms so I was warming up, doing pads with Pelon, in front of the ring.

“Nikki [Bascome] came over and said, ‘Everyone is looking at you guys’, and sure enough the next day guys started pulling out.

“We tried to call them out, saying, ‘Do you guys want to fight for the championship?’ They all said they would rather sit it out than fight me.”

Lambe even offered to compete above his weight class in the middleweight division, but he was met with the same frustrating response.

“That guy didn’t want to fight me, either,” Lambe said. “I know for sure they were scared of me because afterwards a lot of the guys came over and said, ‘I’m glad I didn’t fight you’.

“One of the coaches told me that his guys didn’t feel ready to fight me. I know I could have won the tournament if I had fought. It would have been some work, but I know I could have done it. I know these guys were looking me up on YouTube because I was trying to do the same for them.”

Lambe admits he was desperate to step between the ropes and gain more experience and improve his amateur record.

He was also denied an opportunity of fighting on the undercard of Bascome’s unanimous points win over Iwan Azore at the Fairmont Southampton the previous weekend, as his opponent Jason Canamaso, of Baltimore Boxing Club, failed to show.

“These guys just keep pulling out and I’m not getting any fights,” said Lambe, who hopes to return to the ring in May.

“I’ll just keep training hard and improving on the things we’re working on.”

Southpaw Tyler Christopher, also of Forty Rego’s, was meant to compete in the middleweight division in Ohio but was unable to travel because of immigration reasons.