BEIJING-bound Frankston boxer Stephen Sutherland isn't too concerned about who he's going to fight at the Olympics next month.
His nonchalance will not surprise anyone who has tracked the meteoric career of the baby-faced young boxer.
From his digs at the Australian Institute of Sport on Friday, he told The Independent he was focusing on his own preparations rather than those of his opponents.
"No use worrying about them,'' says the English-born Sutherland. "I'm just going to go out and give it my best shot.''
His father and grandfather boxed in England, and Sutherland began boxing at the age of nine to avoid getting into strife in his home town in Hertfordshire, north of London.
The 17-year-old former Elizabeth Murdoch Secondary College student is the youngest boxer ever to be selected in an Australian Olympic team.
This week, he goes to Thailand as part of the nine-member team for a training camp before heading to Beijing, where he will compete with 18 other flyweights.
Fighting in the 51-kilogram division, he earned the right to compete in the Oceania Olympic qualifiers in Samoa after defeating the more fancied Anthony Missale at the Australian championships in Brisbane last year. Sutherland kept Missale scoreless _ unprecedented in amateur boxing _ before going on to beat Francis Oaike from Papua New Guinea in similar fashion to gain entry to the Australian Olympic team.
He also won the prestigious Arthur Tunstall Medal for the best overall performance at the national championships.
John Hoyne has been training Sutherland at his home gym in Carrum since the former English schoolboy champion moved to Australia with his father in 2004.
He will travel to Beijing to watch his former young charge, but Sutherland is now under the guidance of Australian national coach Bodo Andreas.
Hoyne, a renowned trainer of runners, footballers and fighters, has a unique rapport with Sutherland. "He is a beautiful and skilful fighter, beautifully balanced _ a lovely, lovely mover. He was made to be a boxer. He doesn't get hit and he doesn't get hurt.''
But the veteran coach said Sutherland's real ability was inside his head.
"He has got a great temperament. He is such a quick thinker and he never gets rattled _ he just keeps his mind on the job.''
Hoyne is realistic about Sutherland's chances on the world stage against men almost twice his age from proven boxing regions such central Asia, South America and Europe.
"He will need all the luck in the world because he is fighting the world's best,'' he said.
"But having said that, he keeps amazing me. I was confident he'd win Victoria but thought he'd hit a few snags at the nationals. But he got through that all right and went on to qualify for the Games.''
Hoyne says Sutherland is in capable hands with the no-nonsense national coach Andreas who, he says, has a good grasp of the international amateur boxing landscape.
Last month Sutherland won the overall prize for Frankston Council's and Fairfax Community Network's 2008 Emerging Athletes program, beating a field of 12 candidates.
When he is not training, Sutherland enjoys playing soccer, tennis and table tennis. The avid Tottenham Hotspur supporter will celebrate his 18th birthday in Beijing.
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