Warren tries to punch return trip to Olympics
Rau'shee Warren is skipping rope in a gym a couple of miles from where the World Boxing Championships begin today. As the sweat pours off his body, his legs and the rope are just a blur.
"I'm training hard, as you can see. Everywhere, every second, every minute is strong and hard and I'm pushing myself," he said. "You are guaranteed to see me in the finals. That's what I'm going to tell you."
All Warren needs to do in the championships that begin today at the University of Illinois-Chicago is make the quarterfinals in his weight class (112 pounds) and he earns a trip back to the Olympics, this time to Beijing in 2008.
Warren was just 17 and the youngest member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic boxing team when he traveled to Athens. His inexperience showed when he lost 22-9 in his first match to China's Zou Chiming at 106 pounds.
Warren didn't turn pro, and now he's on the verge of becoming the first U.S. boxer since Davey Lee Armstrong in 1976 to compete in two Olympics.
"It would mean a lot. At first I didn't pay attention to it," Warren said. "I'm not focused on it. I'm focused on winning the Gold medal in Beijing right now. You can't step ahead of qualifying in Chicago."
Now boxing at 112 pounds (flyweight) instead of 106 as he did in Athens, Warren is confident. He won a bronze medal at the 2005 World Boxing championships and is a two-time national champion. At age 20, he's more polished.
His longtime coach Mike Stafford, who has known Warren since the boxer was a 6-year-old growing up in Cincinnati, can see the maturation.
"He's ready to go to the next stage. The last Olympics he didn't go to the next level," Stafford said.
Stafford said Warren has a strong support team.
"The combination of me and his mom have been working together, getting in his head and letting him know the next guy is the guy to beat. I know it's hard for him being around these guys because all the other Olympians are gone," he said.
"Going pro was not a big issue for me," Warren said, acknowledging there were difficult times as he was trying to box while still in school.
"I was stressing through it. I finished school and just focus on boxing right now. … I'm an adult now. I was a child, trying to get experience. It's a little different when you are grown. Now, I'm a man."
About 650 boxers from nearly 120 countries are competing in the championships, including 11 fighters from the United States. Powerhouse Cuba is not an entrant, staying away because of the fear some boxers might defect.
U.S. bantamweight Gary Russell Jr. also won a bronze at the 2005 World Boxing Championships.
Light flyweight Luis Yanez won the gold at the 2007 Pan American Games. Welterweight Demetrius Andrae took a silver medal and light heavyweight Christopher Downs a bronze at the Pan Ams.
Super heavyweight Michael Hunter and lightweight Sadam Ali will be in their first World Boxing Championships, although both have experience in the junior worlds. Hunter is the son of former pro boxer Michael Hunter Sr., who once sparred with Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe.
Middleweight Shawn Estrada, featherweight Raynell Williams, light welterweight Javier Molina and heavyweight Deontay Wilder all will be looking for an Olympic berth.
The top eight finishers in the light flyweight (106 pounds) to light heavyweight (178) divisions and the top four from the heavyweight and super heavyweight classes will qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
There also will be two continental qualifiers early next year, so the Chicago tournament will not be the last chance to make the Olympics.