Sunday, February 06, 2000
4 local boxers take first step toward Olympics
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ricardo Williams (right) spars with Te'tro Amaru.
(Ernest Coleman photo)
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Ricardo Williams Jr., 18, the nation's top-ranked 139-pound amateur boxer, has heard the criticism. Right to his face.
“Ricardo Williams, the boxer?” they begin. “You're going to end up like all the rest of 'em — broke and not even knowing your name.”
Williams, a graduate of Taft High School, bristles at such comments.
He vows he is going to be different.
When he turns pro, he says, he's going to make his money, then retire from boxing with his wits intact.
It's a war he wants to win, partly to prove people wrong.
But right now, there's another battle to win: making the team that will box in Sydney, Australia, at the 2000 Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Team Trials begin Wednesday in Tampa, Fla. Saturday's championships will be broadcast live on NBC from 2-4 p.m.
Four of the 96 boxers in the trials are from Cincinnati. Besides Williams (139 weight class), they are: Dante Craig (147), Ron Siler Jr. (106) and Gerald Tucker (119).
A fifth, Michael Evans, who often travels to tournaments with Cincinnati's Gold Glovers, is from Dayton.
After the trials, the top two boxers from each of the 12 weight classes will advance to the boxoffs in Connecticut, Feb.24-26.
In order for the second-place finisher in Tampa to make the Olympic team, he must beat the first-place finisher twice in the boxoffs. This added step is U.S. Boxing's way of trying to ensure that the best boxers — no flukes — make the team.
Williams climbing hills to Mt. Olympus
Closeups of other Olympic Trials boxers
4 local boxers take first step toward Olympics
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