I had the great pleasure last Friday afternoon to meet a young boxer who many believe is the best American hope to win a gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
His name is Shakur Stevenson, and last year he moved from Newark, NJ to Hampton, VA which is how he found his way into my sights. Actually, Andi Petrini@andipetrini , the sports editor at the DAILY PRESS, put him on my radar. As I did some research, it was amazing that this assignment fell to me. The article sent by Shakur's "people," was a recent one from USA Today, and written last month after the 17-year old had won yet another world amateur title. He's 17-0 in international competition.
I had a great talk with Stevenson at his grandparent's house in Hampton, where he is taking a break from boxing, but getting ready to begin training again in November. Amazingly, both of his coaches are still based in Newark. But, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Mary Cain, the young phenom distance runner, who recently turned pro, has legendary Alberto Salazar as a coach, and he's still coaching runners in Oregon, while Mary just graduated from Bronxville HS, just outside of New York City.
I'm not going to give the highlights of the interview away, because it will be shown in a soon to be released DP sports page. Could be as early as tomorrow (Wed.), and I'll put an addendum on the top of this post with a link to the story. As I like to say, stay tuned. :)
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| Shakur Stevenson in training. Remember the name. |
His name is Shakur Stevenson, and last year he moved from Newark, NJ to Hampton, VA which is how he found his way into my sights. Actually, Andi Petrini
I had a great talk with Stevenson at his grandparent's house in Hampton, where he is taking a break from boxing, but getting ready to begin training again in November. Amazingly, both of his coaches are still based in Newark. But, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Mary Cain, the young phenom distance runner, who recently turned pro, has legendary Alberto Salazar as a coach, and he's still coaching runners in Oregon, while Mary just graduated from Bronxville HS, just outside of New York City.
I'm not going to give the highlights of the interview away, because it will be shown in a soon to be released DP sports page. Could be as early as tomorrow (Wed.), and I'll put an addendum on the top of this post with a link to the story. As I like to say, stay tuned. :)
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