America’s heavyweight hope

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:00:00 +0000

On a recent Monday in Las Vegas, Michael Hunter entered the Hit Factory, his uncle’s popular Las Vegas boxing gym, to spar with his younger brother, Keith. The talk, when Hunter arrived, was of Manny Pacquiao’s controversial loss the night before to Timothy Bradley. The men at the gym could not believe that Pacquiao had lost. But as Hunter began hitting his brother with punches, the talk dimmed. Mustafa Ameen, Hunter’s confidant and advisor, looked on at his pupil. Hunter's footwork was great as he eluded jabs and hooks; his hands were quick. Forget the fight the night before: He was the main event.

The walls of the Hit Factory are plastered with posters of past fights. On one, there’s a framed and signed picture of Hunter. It reads: "I WILL be the HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION of the WORLD." First, however, Hunter will aim for the Olympic gold medal in London as the top U.S. heavyweight boxer. American boxing hasn’t medaled higher than bronze in heavyweight boxing since Henry Tillman and Ray Mercer brought home gold medals in heavyweight boxing in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. There’s also an underlying sense of urgency that the U.S. not only needs a heavyweight who can win the gold in London, but who can also go on to have the kind of fruitful professional career a gold-medal heavyweight hasn’t had since the days of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

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America’s heavyweight hope