The U.S. Olympic boxing trials start on Monday, and advance press on the tournament to qualify for the 2008 Olympic team has been out there, if you know where to find it. This piece at EastsideBoxing.com previews the competition in each weight class. And papers around the country are featuring local boxers who are traveling to Houston hoping to make the team. To sum up: for most of the boxers, the opportunity is the culmination of a lifelong dream, and they are going into the trials confidently, having seen a lot of the other guys in competition before. The Mining Journal, of Michigan, features five fighters from the United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette who will be competing in Houston: 119-pound David Clark, 178-pound DeRae Crane, 201-plus-pound Nate James, 106-pound Keola McKee and 112-pound Bruno Escalante.
The San Bernadino County Sun tells readers about 106-pounder Malcolm Franklin. The Army News looks at Colorado-based 119-pounder Alexis Ramos. Robert Rodriguez took a circuitous route to the 125-pound trials, as the Rocky Mountain News explains. Bernard Fernandez made the cover of the Philadelphia Daily News this week with a feature on 141-pounder Danny Garcia, while Garcia's 141-pound rival Dan O'Connor of Massachusetts gets a write up in the Metrowest Daily News. The Las Cruces Sun-News gives the details on 178-pounder Siju Shabazz. Also in the 178-pound division is Montana's Nick Swan, as detailed in the Great Falls Tribune.
Also in the news: Over at ESPN.com, Michael Woods takes an interesting look at Russian/Australian knockout artist Victor Oganov. At the same site, I have done up a chart at looking at Evander Holyfield, Oliver McCall, Riddick Bowe, the many boxers aged 40-something who are still punching, hoping for another shot. And Don Stewart cooks up popularity makeovers for underappreciated boxers including Mikkel Kessler, Chris John and Ivan Calderon.
No comments:
Post a Comment