Gary Russell, Jr. continued his march through the 119-pound Challenger's Bracket of the US Olympic Boxing Trials in Houston, TX by virtue of a walkover when Sammy DiPace of Las Cruces, NM bowed out of the tournament. No reason was given why DiPace did not compete against Russell in this bout.
In the Winner's Bracket final, Roberto Marraquin of Dallas, TX defeated Ronny Rios of Santa Ana, CA, 30-27. That means Russell's immediate goal is to win the Challenger's Bracket, so he can face Marraquin to avenge Monday's loss. However, Russell will have to beat Marraquin twice over the weekend to win the Olympic berth.
The boxing trio are getting great coverage by Les Carpenter of the Washington Post. He is covering the Olympic Trials in Houston and giving the hometown boxers excellent ink. I wish all of the boxers great success and we are pulling for the beltway!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is great for Lil Gary. This walkover will give him a day of rest. I am sure he's excited and can't wait to continue his quest. Now to the Fernando and Dominic, it seems evident they may meet one another in the loser's bracket. If not tonight probably tomorrow. Dang! I wish they both could win but Danny Jacobs is a great fighter and this is his second Olympic Trials. The 165lb bracket is the toughest bracket this time.
ReplyDeleteThanks to both posters on this. Yes, Les Carpenter has been doing an outstanding job for the Post.
ReplyDeleteI did wonder after Day 1 why he didn't mention Guerrero and Wade's wins and focused only on Russell's loss. But he has more than made up for it with his later reports.
Odd that he won in a walkover, but a win's a win, and as Solomon said, there's a day of rest (hopefully Russell will use the adrenaline stored up for today's scheduled fight and use it tomorrow).
ReplyDeleteWe need to have a welcome home celebration for these guys when they get back! People who know nothing about boxing are seeing the press and asking about the locals who are competing...these guys deserve the red carpet treatment!
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