American Amateur Boxer Tony Losey Passes Away at Age 22

American amateur boxer Tony Losey, who had hopes of representing the United States in the 2016 Summer Olympics, died in an industrial accident on Tuesday. He was 22 years old.

Rick Plumlee of The Wichita Eagle reports Losey was working as a subcontractor at a steel-plate fabricator in Wichita, Kansas, when the accident occurred. A 12,000-pound tank apparently shifted and fell on him while he was sandblasting it.    

The report included comments from Lewis Hernandez, who trained the promising boxing prospect. He noted that Losey had fought through some tough times and set his sights on the Olympic Games.

"That was his goal," Hernandez said. "He went through a lot of tough times as a kid, but he was pushing forward real well."

Hernandez also called his protege a "natural" who was born to box.

The rankings backed up the claim. The latest release from USA Boxing showed Losey was ranked third in the welterweight (152 pounds) division behind only Jose Alday and Chordale Booker.

He had only recently returned to training after a judge in March barred him from leaving home for any reason other than to work because of violations during probation, according to Plumlee's report.

The next step in the young boxer's path to the Olympics was going to be a qualifying trial in Spokane, Washington, early next year. If he had advanced from that round, he would have competed in the Olympic Trials with an opportunity to earn a place on Team USA.

Along with those world-class dreams, he leaves behind a fiancee and daughters, which Hernandez remarked were the reasons the boxer worked hard inside and outside of the ring, the report notes.

"He was a great father. He was working hard to take care of them," he said. "This is a sad day. We just have to remember the good times we had with Tony."