Boxer Andre Lambe is preparing to take his career to the next level after announcing two overseas fights.

The Bermudian, who has an unbeaten professional record with 12 wins, will be competing over eight rounds for the first time and will likely have the chance to fight for at least two titles with bouts planned in Texas in June and Florida in August.

It is a step up for Lambe, who was last seen in action in Bermuda last month, but he feels now the right time to take the next leap in his career.

“I’m definitely excited and my first fight is in the Civic Centre in Galveston, which is way bigger than any arena I’ve fought in so far,” Lambe said.

“I’m just glad I’m finally getting an opportunity and I’ll know in the next couple of weeks who my opponent will be, but the fight is going to be at 147lb and I could be fighting for two titles.

“One is an ABO title, a regional belt. I don’t want to say what the second is just yet but it’s a new belt and bigger than the ABO. We’re just waiting on confirmation for that, but I can start challenging for certain belts now because I’m fighting over eight rounds. I’m really excited about that.”

As a result of the longer bout Lambe has already begun his training camp, which he has extended from the usual eight weeks, and he can still be seen pounding the roads around the island.

“I’m still going to be training in Bermuda as I have a pretty good regime going right now,” he said.

“I usually start eight weeks out but I have already started camp now and I’m working on getting those rounds in especially in sparring. I’ll be upping my cardio training but mostly it’s about getting my body conditioned to doing the rounds. Last week I sparred 12 rounds straight so I should be fine.”

Fighting overseas comes with increased expenses and extra administration, with the costs involved continuing to spiral.

“We’ve been trying to do this for a while but when it comes to boxing it’s hard to get out there,” Lambe said.

“It’s not like you can just fly in, say you want to fight and get in the ring. There are a lot of costs, sanctioning fees and things to pay especially as an international fighter and If I was an American citizen it would be far easier.

“People might think I’ve been making the decision not to fight away from here but it’s a lot harder with paperwork and things to do before you can fight away. I’m just glad that now I have got the opportunity but I still have to raise funds to do it.”

To raise those funds Lambe is organising a golf tournament at Port Royal on April 19, with Burrows plumbing as the lead sponsor, and he is hopeful that the community will help him to achieve his dream.

“I know a lot of my fans want to see me fight abroad and take my career to the next level,” he said.

“The only way I can do that is to get help from the community. I love representing Bermuda but as a professional fighter I can’t represent the island in the Olympics. I don’t get any funding from government, so I have to try to find other means to represent my country.

“I love golf especially since 2020 when Covid hit. I like sport but I can’t play too many for risk of injury, but golf is definitely something I can do without too much fear and it also feeds my competitive edge. I play pretty good and it helps to take my mind off things when I’m stressed out about fighting.”

This is the second year Lambe has arranged his golf tournament, with the 2024 event a huge success. As well as the golf, there is also a $5 raffle open to everyone with more than 40 prizes on offer including brunches at Grotto Bay Hotel, spa days, photoshoots, tickets to the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and golf equipment.

“This is the start of the tournament to help me represent Bermuda but I’m not going to be boxing forever and eventually I hope for this to become an annual event and hopefully I can put the funds into helping other athletes or school students or anybody trying to do anything positive,” Lambe said.

“We hope to be able to help out with scholarships if we get to that point and this is only our second year, but I hope we can get it big enough to help others.

“As well as the golf, we’re also doing a junior clinic in the morning from 11am to midday. The junior clinic is going to be 30 minutes of golf fun with some of Bermuda’s top professional coaches and the other 30 minutes is going to be boxing training with my team. The kids can win prizes, everything’s free and that will be right before the golf at 1pm.”

Anybody in Bermuda wishing to enter a golf team, donate prizes, purchase raffle tickets, volunteer or sponsor any of Andre Lambe’s fundraising activities should e-mail teamshowtimebda@gmail.com