News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The boxer's dinner in Sisters was hosted by timber firm Crown Pacific.
According to Coach Patrick Burns, there are 12 Olympic boxers on the squad and 12 alternates. They arrived in the Bend area on April 24 to train for their May 17 match in Portland against Germany.
"Bend is secluded and it's a nice (training) camp," Burns said. Although there was no plywood for ring floors and ring ropes were missing when they arrived, "locals pitched in and helped a lot."
The German boxing team is ranked second in the world, and "they think they are going to come in and kick our butt," Burns said. But the USA squad, while inexperienced "are young and they are enthusiastic."
They showed some of that enthusiasm at the Hotel Sisters. After dinner, they formed a circle and pushed a few of their own team members to the center where they danced to claps and cheers.
When disc jockey Jack Berard of Dancin' Boots showed the team how to line dance, the boxers showed that footwork expertise was not limited to the boxing ring.
There are two current world champions on the USA team, Super Heavyweight Lawrence Clay-Bey at 201 pounds and Light Heavyweight Antonio Tarver at 178 pounds. They and the rest of the team thanked Sisters for the evening and showed great pride in representing the United States.
The boxers earned that right through a series of elimination competitions such as the Golden Gloves, Armed Forces Clubs and the Police Athletic leagues.
Coach Burns said the competitions against the Germans in Portland and the Russians were tune-up matches for the Olympic Games in Atlanta in July.
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