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Pillar to Post

posted by Kathleen Holland on August 10, 2008, in Pillar to Post by Brett Mauren

By Brett Mauren

If you have not yet heard, the Olympics are going on, and not a moment too soon because the week in boxing was pretty dull.
The U.S. team suffered a major setback with the loss of Bantamweight Gary Russell Jr. who collapsed at the Olympic village while trying to shave off two extra pounds in order to meet the 119 limit. Russell was a major medal hope for the U.S. team, who now pins it’s hopes on flyweight Rau’shee Warren, and welterweight Demetrius Andrade. Russell expressed his disappointment, but also let his family and friends know their support was not in vain, as he plans to become professional.

While the Russell story is unfortunate it has come to my attention that there is still a boxing tournament in Beijing, and Shawn Estrada, the first American to hit the ring posted a 10-2 win over Argentina’s Ezequiel Maderna in the middleweight bracket. Estrada is fighting not only for his country but in honor of his father who is battling kidney problems that reportedly should have already killed him. Estrada’s father Juan told Shawn before he departed that he is the reason he wakes up every morning, if that’s not inspiration I truly do not know what is.
The beautiful thing about the Olympics is that the two stories that I just brought you were just that, stories, not controversies or disputes. I love the pro game but the Olympics seem to bring to light the blood sweat and tears that really go into boxing. Whether you’re fighting for a bed ridden father, or watched your lifelong dream shatter over one pound, the stories are real, and give us a nice break from a couple big names shouting at eachother during a press conference, then counting their ppv buys afterwards. I happen to hate the Olympic scoring system, but to see these phenomenal athletes living their dream is what got me hooked on this sport to begin with, and there is truly no better place than the Olympics to witness that degree of pride.
One of the few noteworthy stories in the professional game this week was Ricky Hatton firing his trainer Billy Graham. If you watched Mayweather Hatton 24/7 you probably remember Graham, and if you’re anything like me you probably aren’t surpsised to hear that hatton cited Graham’s physical well being for the move. I kind of wondered if a guy who was shooting pain killers on t.v. should really be putting on a suit, and absorbing continuous Ricky Hatton body shots. Hatton was also rumored this week to have interest in being trained by none other than Floyd Mayweather Sr. You can go ahead and create your own punchline for that one.
Hopefully next week we’ll have a few Gold medals to report on, and we’ll start the countdown to Ruiz-Valuev!

Until Next Week, God Bless!

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