USA Olympic Boxing 2016: America's Best Bets for Gold in Rio
Team USA boxing will face a good deal of pressure when it kicks off competition this week at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The United States has traditionally been a boxing powerhouse, but the men's team failed to reach the podium at the London Games four years ago and hasn't captured a gold medal since Andre Ward brought home the hardware in 2004.
Only eight Americans will make the trip to Rio to compete in boxing, a team that includes six men and two women, and there only looks to be three fighters in that group who seem like legitimate contenders for medals.
Granted, one is an overwhelming favorite to successfully defend the gold she won four years ago, but the rest of the team is a group of great potential but few guarantees.
Let's take a look at America's best shots for gold in boxing at Rio.
The Team
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Men
Karlos Balderas (Lightweight) 19 years old; Santa Maria, California.
Charles Conwell (Middleweight) 18 years old; Cleveland, Ohio.
Nico Hernandez (Light Flyweight) 20 years old; Wichita, Kansas.
Gary Antuanne Russell (Light Welterweight) 20 years old; Capitol Heights, Maryland.
Shakur Stevenson (Bantamweight) 19 years old; Newark, New Jersey.
Antonio Vargas (Flyweight) 19 years old; Kissimmee, Florida
Women
Claressa Shields (Middleweight) 21 years old; Flint, Michigan.
Mikaela Mayer (Lightweight) 26 years old; Los Angeles, California.
Claressa Shields
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Shields became the first American woman in history to capture a gold medal in the inaugural women's boxing tournament at the 2012 Summer Games in London. She's widely viewed as a favorite to repeat with a second gold in the women's middleweight division, which, incidentally, would be a first in American Olympic history.
No American Olympic fighter, and there have been plenty of good ones, has ever captured two golds.
That would place a tremendous and badly needed spotlight on women's boxing, especially as the men have continued to struggle and probably only have one fighter who can factor into the medal count.
Shields, who grew up in Flint, Michigan, one of America's most dangerous and rundown cities, and who was the youngest member of Team USA four years ago, is extremely confident ahead of her chance at history.
“I’m the one that has the bull’s-eye on my back. So it’s kinda exciting to me, you know,” Shields said per Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric. “I’m going to be the first American to win two Olympic gold medals back to back. So I’ve got a lot to look forward to."
Shakur Stevenson
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Stevenson is America's best—possibly only—hope to break a men's gold-medal drought that dates back a dozen years. That's a great deal of pressure for the 19-year-old from Newark, New Jersey, who many believe could be the breakout star of the Games.
He's undefeated in 23 international bouts and plans to turn pro at the conclusion of the Games.
Stevenson has a good jab and a tremendous sense of timing and ring positioning. He counts among his influences Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Ward, which, if you're going to model yourself after fighters, you couldn't pick a better and more successful trio.
He doesn't look like a young man swallowed by the moment or the expectations that ride on his back. In fact, he relishes the opportunity as a fighter whose in-ring performances seem to far exceed his years.
“I love being in the ring and showing everybody my skills and what I can do,” Stevenson said, per Michelle Martinelli of USA Today. “I’m looking forward to proving to everybody who thinks I’m not that good or I’m not supposed to be on that level just because I’m young.”
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Mikaela Mayer
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Mayer is the American dark horse in these Games.
She's not a lock for gold, given she competes in a division that has been absolutely dominated on the international level by Ireland's Katie Taylor, who is back this time around to defend her 2012 gold medal, but she's determined to make her mark.
"We are all here for a reason and we all want that medal. I'd be a fool to look past any one of them, but I'd also be a fool to put any one of them on a pedestal as everyone is beatable," Mayer told Bleacher Report from Rio ahead of the Games.
Mayer has come a long way from her days as a troubled teenager who, in her own words, was more concerned with her friends and partying than doing what she needed to accomplish something big in her life.
Boxing gave her the motivation she needed to pull out of a life leading nowhere and put her energy into the pursuit of becoming an Olympic athlete, something many dream about but few achieve. Her grit and determination could help her take the next step and secure a spot on the podium.
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