Saturday, August 07, 1999
Local boxer wins Pan Am gold
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Gerald Tucker beams along with his gold medal.
(AP photos)
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WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Cincinnati boxer Gerald Tucker, an Olympic alternate in 1996, rolled through his final bantamweight bout en route to the gold medal Friday at the Pan American Games.
Tucker, who had upset Cuban Waldemar Font to reach the finals, scored a lopsided 15-3 win over Venezuela's Neouar Cermeno.
“No doubt this is my biggest win ever,” said Tucker, 20, last year's national Golden Gloves winner. “I'll never forget this, not for the rest of my life.”
Tucker, 20, was as surprised as anyone that the score was so one-sided against his taller opponent.
Tucker rocks Venezuela's Neouar Cermeno with a right.
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“I had my hands up, but I was like running into a lot of shots. I don't know if it was knocking my head back or not. But I know I was feeling punches in there, more than three,” Tucker said.
Tucker finished second in two other tournaments this year. His nerves were racing as he prepared for the fight of his life. Then he let his quickness and instincts take over.
On the medals stand, what he had accomplished hit him, and he felt the emotion of the moment, putting his hand over his mouth as his eyes watered.
“It was coming onto me that I had won a gold medal. It was coming slowly but surely, and I was feeling it,” he said.
Complete Pan Am Games coverage from Associated Press
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