(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – For the second straight year, the top male and female boxers in the country will compete in the U.S. Championships, the premier Olympic-style boxing event in the United States. Over 300 athletes are scheduled to travel to Colorado Springs and the Olympic Training Center for the annual event. For the first time since 2001, men’s championship round action will move off the Olympic Training Center complex to the Sheraton Colorado Springs Grand Ballroom.. Men’s final round action is being co-hosted by USA Boxing and the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation. Tickets and tables are now on sale through www.ticketswest.com and all Tickets West locations.
Nine of the 11 2005 National Champions on the men’s side are returning to defend their titles while 10 female titlists are back in 2006. 2004 Olympian Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) will compete for a second straight U.S. Championships flyweight title in 2006. The 19-year-old enjoyed an impressive 2005, winning his first U.S. Championships title in addition to earning a bronze medal at his first-ever world championships in November. Seventeen-year-old Gary Russell, Jr. (Capitol Heights, Md.) burst onto the senior scene in 2005 and hopes to duplicate his efforts in 2006. Russell grabbed a bronze medal in his first-ever World Championships in 2005 in addition to winning both the 2005 U.S. Championships and National Golden Gloves to earn USA Boxing’s 2005 Athlete of the Year award.
Super heavyweight Mike Wilson (Central Point, Ore.) will be shooting for his third straight U.S. Championships title in 2006. The 2004 Olympic runner-up won both the U.S. Championships and National PAL in 2005 and is looking for the three-peat in 2006. Featherweight Mark Davis (Cleveland, Ohio) joins Warren and Russell to complete the trio of teenage titlist from flyweight to featherweight and hopes to continue the strong heritage of Cleveland boxers.
Two-time U.S. Championships gold medalist Michael Evans (Dayton, Ohio) and reigning champion Karl Dargan (Philadelphia, Pa.) will be defending their U.S. Championships titles in Colorado Springs. Evans joined Russell as the only two boxers to win both the U.S. Championships and Golden Gloves in 2005. Dargan plans to continue the family legacy built by his cousin, 2004 Olympian Rock Allen (Philadelphia, Pa.), by winning his second straight light welterweight title. Allen’s younger brother, Bear Richardson (Philadelphia, Pa.) will be competing in his first U.S. Championships in 2006.
Welterweight (152 lbs) Demetrius Andrade (Providence, R.I.); middleweight (165 lbs) Edwin Rodriguez (Worcester, Mass.); and light heavyweight William Rosinsky (Brooklyn, N.Y.) will all look to defend their titles in Colorado Springs as well.
The women’s side will showcase 10 returning national champions and one medalist from the 2005 Women’s World Championships in Russia. Light heavyweight (176 lbs) Tyler Lord-Wilder (Perry, Mich.) grabbed her first U.S. Championships gold medal in 2005 and followed it up with a bronze medal at the World Championships in October. Three-time national champions Cheryl Houlihan (Norton, Mass.) and Elizabeth Quevado (Commerce, Calif.) will both be competing for their fourth straight national title, but Quevado will be boxing at a new weight class. The former welterweight champion has moved down to the light welterweight (138 lbs) division for the 2006 edition.
Two-time light bantamweight (114 lbs) national champion Sacred Downing (Trenton, N.J.) and two-time light middleweight (154 lbs) champion Tiffany Junot (New Orleans, La.) will vie for their third U.S. Championships titles in Colorado Springs. Junot is returning to the Olympic Training Center for the first time since September when she traveled to Colorado Springs to train for the World Championships after escaping the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Pinweight (101 lbs) Chantel Cordova (Pueblo West, Colo.) will enjoy a home-ring advantage as she shoots for her second straight national championship in the Pikes Peak region. Bantamweight (119 lbs) Vanessa Juarez (Fort Worth, Texas); featherweight (125 lbs) Melissa Roberts (Manchester, Conn.); middleweight Franchon Crews (Baltimore, Md.); and heavyweight (189 lbs) Tameka Stephens (Charlotte, N.C.) are all returning in 2006 to defend their 2005 titles as well.
Admission will be free for preliminary, quarterfinal and semifinal action as well as women’s championship bouts at the Olympic Training Center, March 6-10. General admission tickets for Men’s Championship Night, co-hosted by the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation, are available for $20 at all Tickets West locations and if purchased prior to March 1 will feature a $5 discount. Preferred seating tables of 10 are available for $300 and VIP tables of 10 are on sale for $600 until March 1st. After March 1, preferred seating tables will be $350 and VIP tables will be available for $650. All VIP tickets will include a hospitality package beginning at 5:30 at the Sheraton Colorado Springs. To purchase VIP Ringside tables, preferred seating tables and general admission tickets, contact Tickets West at (719) 576-2626 or www.ticketswest.com. For group sales, contact the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation at (719) 634-7333 x1000.
The U.S. Boxing Championships have been held annually since 1888, making it the longest running boxing tournament in the United States. Twenty U.S. champions, including Pernell Whitaker, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, and Andre Ward went on to earn gold medals at the Olympic Games.
2006 U.S. Championships
Dates: March 6-11
Sessions: Preliminary Bouts – March 6 (11 a.m. & 5 p.m. MT)
March 7 (11 a.m. & 5 p.m. MT)
Quarterfinal Bouts – March 8 (11 a.m. & 5 p.m. MT) Olympic Training Center Sports Center I
Semifinal Bouts – March 9 (11 a.m. MT) Olympic Training Center Sports Center I
Women’s Finals – March 10 (6 p.m. MT) Olympic Training Center Sports Center I
Men’s Finals – March 11 (7 p.m. MT) Sheraton Colorado Springs Grand Ballroom