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NEW YORK, USA – The story of teenage Olympic medal hopeful Shakur Stevenson reads like the plot line for a “Rocky” movie.
The American bantamweight is the oldest of 9 siblings, took up boxing at the age of just 5 and grew up in a rough neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey where it was all too easy to fall prey to a life of crime.
His style, speed and smart boxing brain has drawn comparisons to Floyd Mayweather, who fought in the Olympics in 1996 and went on to become a boxing legend before retiring last year unbeaten.
And if the “Shakur” sounds familiar, it should – Stevenson is named after Tupac Shakur, the influential rapper who was shot dead in 1996 on a trip to Las Vegas to see a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon.
But behind the ever-beaming grin, supreme confidence and memorable name there is undoubted talent: Stevenson, who is only 19, is the first American male to win junior and youth world titles and a Youth Olympic Games gold medal.
“He really didn’t need any motivation once he got into boxing because it was something he had to do,” said his grandfather Wali Moses, who was his first coach.
“He knew that he wanted to do something besides be a kid on the streets of Newark so he made extra (efforts) to make sure that he wasn’t,” Moses told USA Today.
The latest chapter in Stevenson‘s rapid rise to what many boxing experts say will be the top comes in Rio, where professionals will step into the ring for the first time in the Olympics.
The bubbly teenager already has a “Rio 2016” tattoo on one shoulder blade and is regarded as Team USA’s brightest medal hope in the Olympic boxing competition.
Stevenson remains an amateur for now – only a handful of pros will take part in Rio – and is so desperate to have his large family behind him that he launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise money to get them to Brazil.
Winning gold will help provide a better life for his family, he says – that includes getting them all out of Newark for a new start somewhere else.
Professional threat
As befits a teenager who had to grow up fast and describes himself as the family bread-winner, Stevenson does not lack confidence, saying recently: “I expect it (Rio) to be an amazing place, something like I’ve never seen before and I want to stay focused on what I do.
“I’m looking forward to winning a gold medal and doing it in front of all my family.”
Stevenson is dismissive of the threat posed by professionals in Rio.
“I don’t mind it,” Stevenson, who boasts a perfect 23-0 international record but has lost to American rival Ruben Villa twice, told the official Olympic website.
“I feel like professionals are coming to my territory because they’re not used to fighting every single day and they’re not used to having to make the weight every single day. It’s a quicker pace.”
The Olympics have heralded some of American boxing‘s great careers – Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard and Evander Holyfield were all in the Games.
But there is added pressure on Stevenson because while the United States tops the medal table in Olympic boxing history, the men’s team failed to win a single medal in London 4 years ago.
No male American boxer has won gold since 2004 when Andre Ward, now an unbeaten pro, topped the podium.
“I saw that the 2012 (boxing) team – not to say anything bad about them – they didn’t do too good and didn’t bring back no medals,” says Stevenson, a grin forming again across his youthful features.
“I felt, put me in their position, I think I will bring back a gold medal.” – Rappler.com
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