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Colorado Springs Gazette, CO
Oct 27 2007
U.S. team advances 10 of 11 boxers so far
By BRIAN GOMEZ
THE GAZETTE
October 27, 2007 - 12:17AM
CHICAGO - Maybe these guys are for real.
Ten boxers on the 11-person U.S. team that's based at the Olympic
Training Center in Colorado Springs remain in contention after four
days of the World Boxing Championships, the first qualifier for the
2008 Beijing Games.
In Friday's second round, Gary Russell Jr. beat Israel's Peter
Moyshenzon 21-1 in a bantamweight fight that was stopped with 54
seconds left in the second round and light-welterweight Javier Molina
topped Azerbaijan's Emil Maharramov 27-10 at the University of
Illinois-Chicago Pavilion.
Russell, 19, and Molina, a 17-year-old Palmer High School senior, are
one win from the quarterfinals, the Olympic qualifying point for the
light-flyweight through light-heavyweight divisions.
Six boxers - flyweight Rau'shee Warren, featherweight Raynell
Williams, lightweight Sadam Ali, welterweight Demetrius Andrade,
middleweight Shawn Estrada and Fort Carson light-heavyweight
Christopher Downs - won their first-round fights and are two wins
from the quarterfinals.
Luis Yanez, who fights for the first time Sunday, must win two bouts
to reach the quarterfinals of the light-flyweight division, the
smallest weight class with 37 boxers. Super-heavyweight Michael
Hunter needs three wins to get to the semifinals, the Olympic
qualifying point for the heavyweight and super-heavyweight divisions.
The only U.S. boxer who has been eliminated is heavyweight Deontay
Wilder, who lost to Poland's Krzysztof Zimnoch 23-20 in Wednesday's
first round, slowed by a cold and an ear infection.
`I know what these kids can do,' said Dan Campbell, national director
of coaching for Colorado Springs-based USA Boxing. `People say to me,
`We don't think this team can do it.' I just tell them to wait and
see.'
The U.S. entered the world championships as an underdog even when
boxing powerhouse Cuba left its team at home because of fear of
defections. Warren and Andrade are the only Americans in the top 10
of the world rankings, which are filled primarily with boxers from
Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Korea and
Uzbekistan.
U.S. boxers have successfully countered the European style in which
single punches are thrown from a distance by displaying superior
footwork and overpowering their opponents with a flurry of punches.
They've won in a lot of blowouts. They've won comfortable decisions.
Most important, they've won all but one of the close fights.
`Of the 10 we have left, I'm 90 percent sure everybody is going to
qualify,' said Yanez, who has served as co-captain with Downs. `We've
been working hard. This is what we want. This is what we came to get.
And this is what we're taking home.'
Russell puts little stock in preliminary-round victories.
`I'm not sure if we've made believers,' Russell said. `First, we have
to represent ourselves. If we don't stand for anything, our country
won't either.'
Asked about the importance of the U.S. earning international respect,
Downs said, `You always want to step in the ring and have some
respect. If you don't have respect, they're going to walk right
through you, and they won't even look at you as if you exist.'
A bronze medalist at the 2005 world championships, Russell faces a
tough challenge in his next bout Tuesday against France's Ali Hallab,
a 2004 Olympian who is seventh in the European bantamweight rankings.
Hallab also won a bronze at the 2005 world event.
Hunter should be tested today by Turkey's Kurban Gunebakan, a bronze
medalist at the 2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships. Ali
awaits a difficult matchup Sunday in Armenia's Hrachik Javakhyan, the
second-ranked lightweight in Europe.
Thoughts of Beijing haven't consumed Russell or Molina.
`I try not to let myself think about it,' Russell said. `When you
start thinking about stuff, you start getting tense. You don't want
to do that. You want to be relaxed.'
Said Molina: `I look at one fight at a time. I'll prepare myself
mentally and get ready for this next fight.'
Oct 27 2007
U.S. team advances 10 of 11 boxers so far
By BRIAN GOMEZ
THE GAZETTE
October 27, 2007 - 12:17AM
CHICAGO - Maybe these guys are for real.
Ten boxers on the 11-person U.S. team that's based at the Olympic
Training Center in Colorado Springs remain in contention after four
days of the World Boxing Championships, the first qualifier for the
2008 Beijing Games.
In Friday's second round, Gary Russell Jr. beat Israel's Peter
Moyshenzon 21-1 in a bantamweight fight that was stopped with 54
seconds left in the second round and light-welterweight Javier Molina
topped Azerbaijan's Emil Maharramov 27-10 at the University of
Illinois-Chicago Pavilion.
Russell, 19, and Molina, a 17-year-old Palmer High School senior, are
one win from the quarterfinals, the Olympic qualifying point for the
light-flyweight through light-heavyweight divisions.
Six boxers - flyweight Rau'shee Warren, featherweight Raynell
Williams, lightweight Sadam Ali, welterweight Demetrius Andrade,
middleweight Shawn Estrada and Fort Carson light-heavyweight
Christopher Downs - won their first-round fights and are two wins
from the quarterfinals.
Luis Yanez, who fights for the first time Sunday, must win two bouts
to reach the quarterfinals of the light-flyweight division, the
smallest weight class with 37 boxers. Super-heavyweight Michael
Hunter needs three wins to get to the semifinals, the Olympic
qualifying point for the heavyweight and super-heavyweight divisions.
The only U.S. boxer who has been eliminated is heavyweight Deontay
Wilder, who lost to Poland's Krzysztof Zimnoch 23-20 in Wednesday's
first round, slowed by a cold and an ear infection.
`I know what these kids can do,' said Dan Campbell, national director
of coaching for Colorado Springs-based USA Boxing. `People say to me,
`We don't think this team can do it.' I just tell them to wait and
see.'
The U.S. entered the world championships as an underdog even when
boxing powerhouse Cuba left its team at home because of fear of
defections. Warren and Andrade are the only Americans in the top 10
of the world rankings, which are filled primarily with boxers from
Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Korea and
Uzbekistan.
U.S. boxers have successfully countered the European style in which
single punches are thrown from a distance by displaying superior
footwork and overpowering their opponents with a flurry of punches.
They've won in a lot of blowouts. They've won comfortable decisions.
Most important, they've won all but one of the close fights.
`Of the 10 we have left, I'm 90 percent sure everybody is going to
qualify,' said Yanez, who has served as co-captain with Downs. `We've
been working hard. This is what we want. This is what we came to get.
And this is what we're taking home.'
Russell puts little stock in preliminary-round victories.
`I'm not sure if we've made believers,' Russell said. `First, we have
to represent ourselves. If we don't stand for anything, our country
won't either.'
Asked about the importance of the U.S. earning international respect,
Downs said, `You always want to step in the ring and have some
respect. If you don't have respect, they're going to walk right
through you, and they won't even look at you as if you exist.'
A bronze medalist at the 2005 world championships, Russell faces a
tough challenge in his next bout Tuesday against France's Ali Hallab,
a 2004 Olympian who is seventh in the European bantamweight rankings.
Hallab also won a bronze at the 2005 world event.
Hunter should be tested today by Turkey's Kurban Gunebakan, a bronze
medalist at the 2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships. Ali
awaits a difficult matchup Sunday in Armenia's Hrachik Javakhyan, the
second-ranked lightweight in Europe.
Thoughts of Beijing haven't consumed Russell or Molina.
`I try not to let myself think about it,' Russell said. `When you
start thinking about stuff, you start getting tense. You don't want
to do that. You want to be relaxed.'
Said Molina: `I look at one fight at a time. I'll prepare myself
mentally and get ready for this next fight.'