COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Olympic flyweight Rau’shee Warren’s ring minutes at the U.S. boxing championships have been brief, but oh so brilliant.
The defending champion in the 112-pound class and the tournament’s marquee attraction, Warren had to wait an extra day just to get into the ring.
When he did, he made quick work of his opponent, Hawaiian Bruno Escalante, whose coach called things off early in the third round Wednesday with his outclassed fighter trailing 20-3.
Warren, a 21-year-old from Cincinnati known for his amazing quickness, wasn’t bothered by the early end to his first bout of these championships.
“It made me feel like I put in a better performance and I worked hard,” Warren said.
Warren had to wait an extra day to fight because Escalante was forced to re-box Vincent Montoya on Tuesday after officials granted Montoya’s appeal of his loss Monday night.
With his bracket pushed back a day, Warren will also have to fight Thursday, which was supposed to be a day of rest before Friday night’s title fights.
“It doesn’t bother me. The results are going to be the same, I’m going to win,” declared Warren, who is trying to become the first American boxer to fight at two Olympic Games since Davey Lee Armstrong in 1972 and ’76.
All four 112-pound semifinalists will fight Thursday in a two-card session while the finalists in the other 10 weight classes take the day off.
Warren faces Timothy Ibarra of Brighton, Colo. The other match pits Aaron Alafa of Visalia, Calif., and John Franklin of Fort Carson, Colo.
At 17, Warren was the youngest American athlete at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he lost his initial fight. Instead of turning pro afterward, he decided to make a run at Beijing in 2008. U.S. national coaching director Dan Campbell credits Warren’s decision with helping keep more young boxers in the amateur ranks longer.
The Olympic trials are in August at a site yet to be determined.
The top eight boxers in each of 11 weight classes here have qualified for those trials. That made it easier for three defending national champions to bow out of their bouts Wednesday, losing in walkovers.
Gary Russell Jr. of Capitol Heights, Md., couldn’t compete in the 119-pound bout with Ronny Rios of Santa Ana, Calif., because of an injured right hand. Demetrius Andrade of Providence, R.I., was hospitalized with strep throat and couldn’t fight the Army’s 152-pounder, Mahlon Kerwick.
And heavyweight Adam Willett of Bellport, N.Y., was sidelined by a shoulder injury, so Golden Gloves champion Deontay Wilder of Tuscaloosa, Ala., advanced instead.
“You’ve got to play it safe,” Russell said. “You’ve got to look farther down the road. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to maintain your health for the big dance, for the dance that counts.”
Another reigning champ was beaten Wednesday. Danny Garcia of Philadelphia, who moved up from 132 pounds and was the favorite at 141 after Karl Dargan’s stunning loss in the preliminaries, lost 14-13 to Golden Gloves champ Brad Solomon.
“One point, man!” Garcia said, shaking his head. “I thought I had it.”
Solomon, who led by a point heading into the fourth round, said he knew the fight was his, however, “because he was pressing, and I told myself just keep the punches going and he ran into a few of them.”
Garcia’s loss left just two champions set to defend their titles Friday night, with Warren hoping to join them: 32-year-old light heavyweight Christopher Downs of Fort Carson beat Siju Shabazz of Las Cruces, N.M., 33-13, and Luis Yanez of Duncanville, Texas, defeated Diego Hurtado of Reno, Nev., 14-8, in the 106-pound class.
“My home is inside the ring,” Yanez said. “Nobody comes into my house to steal my TV.”
Super-heavyweight Mike Wilson, who would be a three-time defending champ if not for a positive marijuana test resulting in his 2006 title being stripped, beat Fort Carson 250-pounder William Moore 25-16.
Although USA Boxing won’t recognize it, Wilson is hoping to become the first American at any weight to win four straight national championship fights.
In the day’s most exhilarating bout, middleweight Fernando Guerrero of Salisbury, Md., used a furious fourth-round rally to turn a two-point deficit into a 12-9 win over Jonathan Nelson of Little Rock, Ark.
Guerrero will fight Shawn Porter of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, whom he’s beaten three times before, for the 165-pound title Friday night at the Antlers Hilton Hotel.
In the women’s title rounds Wednesday night, Cheryl Houlihan of Norton, Mass., won an unprecedented fifth straight national title, defeating Sky Bell of Moclips, Wash., 29-6 in the 110-pound match and Sacred Downing of Trenton, N.J., won her fourth straight 119-pound title, beating Houston’s Johanna Mendez 18-9.
The women are hoping theirs becomes an Olympic sport by the 2012 London Games.
“Competition’s come a long way,” Houlihan said, “but we’ve got to go out and prove ourselves in tournaments like this.”
