COLORADO SPRINGS — Teenage boxer Miguel Cartagena figures he can’t lose.
Facing headliner Rau’shee Warren in the 114-pound title bout tonight at the U.S. national boxing championships, Cartagena knows he’s a longshot.
All the better.
“If I win, that’s something crazy. Now I become the hit star,” said Cartagena, an 18-year-old from Philadelphia. “If I lose, it’s still a win, because look at who you lost to — a two-time Olympian.”
Warren has redemption on his mind after getting upset in last year’s semifinals, losing the bout on a tiebreaker and storming out of the ring.
This time, Warren is so determined to win back his crown that he’s focused only on his game and not any of his opponents.
“I know they’re coming for me,” Warren said. “It takes a champion to beat a champion.”
Warren’s bout is one of 10 men’s titles that will be contested tonight at the Crowne Plaza Hotel ballroom, along with three Olympic-class women’s bouts.
Louie Byrd of Denver is a two-time defending champion at 112 pounds, but with the smaller classes being reconfigured, he’ll fight Diego Hurtado in the new 108-pound division.
“I think it’s a little bit more pressure,” Byrd said. “He knows what I’ve done, so he’s working harder than he would have, I’m sure.”
Sacred Downing of Trenton, N.J., tries for her seventh straight national title when she faces Lauren Fisher at 119 pounds.
