Thema drucken
14.09.2019 10:32
|
LAS VEGAS -- Gabriel Flores Jr., a 16-year-old junior lightweight with a strong amateur background and gripping backstory, will turn pro after signing a promotional contract with Top Rank, chairman Bob Arum announced on Wednesday.But because Flores, of Stockton, California, is so young, he cannot fight professionally in the United States yet. He wont have his first bout until at least May, when he turns 17 and can apply for a special permit in various states, including Nevada and California.Why did we sign a 16?-year-old -- I think is because the younger we sign fighters the longer the guys in Top Rank feel theyll have me around, the 84-year-old Arum joked at the final news conference for the Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas undercard at the Wynn resort.I think hes the youngest fighter Top Rank has ever signed. Hes a tremendous prospect, ranked No. 1 in his weight division in the amateur ranks. He has great natural skills and ability. Our matchmakers believe that will make him a star.Flores, a member of the U.S. junior national team in 2015 and 2016, comes into the pro ranks having gone 91-7 as an amateur and having won the 2016 U.S. junior national championship at 138 pounds. In 2015, he claimed a silver medal at the world junior championships at 125 pounds and a gold medal in the same division at the U.S. junior national championships.Flores will enter the pro ranks having endured much in his life.I know a lot of people have high expectations of me and I plan on exceeding all of them, said Flores, who started boxing at age 7. It wasnt easy getting to this point. I lost my mother at the age of 12. It was gang-violence-related. It took my mother away from me. She got shot in the back. They said if she would have made it she would have been paralyzed. She didnt make it, but right now, today, shes looking down on me and shes smiling right now.Flores mother, Juanita Maldonado, was shot while attending a childs birthday party in Stockton on March 17, 2013. She died the following day at age 35. Four others were also shot, reportedly by three men, though no arrests have been made.I could have just gave up on my dreams but giving up on my dreams would have been giving up on my mother, Flores said. Im just grateful to be in this position and want to make her proud.Flores said he wants to be a role model to kids in Stockton, a city gripped by gang violence.My mom wasnt the only one I lost in my family, said Flores, one of six children. I lost my uncle to gang violence. Thats why I look forward to fighting in my hometown so I can promote anti-gang-violence. I want the kids to know right from wrong and the consequences. I want to stop the violence in the city I was born in and the city I love.Flores is trained and managed by his father, Gabriel Flores Sr., whose own involvement in gangs landed him in prison for a stretch. He turned his back on gang life years ago and also trains Top Rank junior lightweight prospect Andy Vences (16-0, 10 KOs). Flores adviser is Rick Mirigian, who also handles blue-chip junior welterweight prospect and 2012 U.S. Olympian Jose Ramirez.Flores has ring experience sparring with quality fighters, including featherweight world titleholder Oscar Valdez and junior featherweight contender Jessie Magdaleno, both of whom have matches on the Pacquiao-Vargas undercard.Id say Im a pure boxer. I like to keep my distance and use my jab and my straight punches, but if it comes down to it, I can fight on the inside, Flores said. I can do anything it takes to win. My favorite boxer of all time is Roy Jones Jr. Sometimes Ill do a little showboating like he does, and sometimes I do that little jump-in hook.Rickey Henderson Jersey . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. Wil Myers Jersey . - The Washington Redskins have cut defensive lineman Adam Carriker and punter Sav Rocca. http://www.padressale.com/padres-trevor-hoffman-jersey/ .C. -- Todd Fiddler scored a hat trick, including the overtime goal, as the Prince George Cougars survived an 8-7 win against the Kamloops Blazers in Western Hockey League play Sunday. Hunter Renfroe Jersey . -- Ken Appleby made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 2-0 win over the Belleville Bulls on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. Hunter Renfroe Padres Jersey .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena.LIMOGES, France -- After Mark Cavendish won his second stage in this Tour de France on Monday, his Dimension Data team head sports director, Rolf Aldag, had a question for those who still doubted the British sprinter.I am wondering what they say today -- How lucky he got, or if they just respect he is the best sprinter here, Aldag told ESPN in Angers after Cavendish took his 28th career Tour stage victory to match the second-best mark of French legend Bernard Hinault and move within six stages of the all-time best from Belgian superstar Eddy Merckx (34).Lets face it. No matter how abrasive Cavendishs personality can be and offend, for a sprinter to be alongside or close to two five-time Tour winners is special.Before racing resumed Tuesday with Stage 4 (237.5km from Saumur to Limoges), talk throughout the Tour entourage was of respect and admiration for Cavendish.Tour race director Christian Prudhomme lauded the 31-year-old Isle of Man rider. [He is] the best sprinter in the history of the Tour, and not only because he has 28 wins, Prudhomme said. What struck me is that he loves the Tour. He has such a respect for the Tour, for the yellow jersey.Like many riders, Simon Gerrans (Orica-BikeExchange) concurred on a day in which he was named to Australias Olympic road race team for next months Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.Its really impressive what he has done so far in this Tour de France, Gerrans told ESPN. To be honest, you sort of look at Cavs history in the Tour. He was really dominating there a few years ago. Then, the last couple of years, he dropped off a little bit. I think a lot of people, myself included, kind of wrote Cav off and said his best years were behind him. But he is proving everyone wrong in this Tour de France. Its great for him.A major discussion point in the Cavendish story has been how he has split his season to accommodate his ambitions for the road and track, the latter in which he has been picked on Team GB for the Olympics to race the omnium and as fifth rider for the team pursuit.Whatever happens, Cavendishs Tour is already a success; but no one, especially Cavendish, expects him to settle for two stage wins, one day in the yellow and a couple in green.Its Mark Cavendish. Everyone expects him to win every race he starts, said Australian Mark Renshaw, Cavendishs key lead-out rider on the bunch sprints for the Etixx-QuickStep team. I think he had a pretty relaxed run in with the track preparation. He has great speed, so when he gets the fire in his belly, thats probably when he is at his best.Cavendishs change of teams to Dimension Data, which races for the Qhubeka charity in South Africa and uses bikes to give people access to work and education, might have given him a new lease on life. Cavendish said as much after his stage win Monday.And many people are still intrigued with how Cavendish will back up for the Olympics -- from the physical demands of the Tour, and with how his legs will transition back to racing on the track.With 14 days between the Tour finish on July 24 and the omnium event, time will be vital.When asked, Gerrans, who does not have a track background, said: Ive got no idea. But added with his trademark smile: For sure, Ill be watching ... like every other cycling faan.dddddddddddd.Hinault, one of the five-time winners of the Tour whose last win in 1985 remains the last Frenchman to win the Tour, believes there are no boundaries for Cavendish.When you are in good form and good in your head, a lot of things can happen, said Hinault, who did not hide how impressed he has been by Cavendishs stage winning spree in the Tour. Its good what he has done. I hope he has more than us. Thats the goal.Along with Cavendish achieving his dream of winning an Olympic medal, something he has twice missed out - on the track at the 2008 Beijing Games, in which he raced with Bradley Wiggins, and in 2012 at London, where he was one of the favourites to win the road race.Pressed on the odds of Cavendish passing Merckxs tally, Hinault said: Why not? He has 28. Eddy Merckx has 34. He will need six and he is not old. He still has the possibility, I think.Asked how Cavendish, at his age, will maintain his winning edge in mind as much as in his body, Hinault said: It has already been up to him, but also the team that he has around him, his team that keeps him up near the front. He is well-protected. He is also a warrior.But Hinault was surprised to hear that Cavendish said he never thought his name would be mentioned in Tour history alongside the Frenchman or Merckx. Why would he not think of that? Hinault said. Its a goal in a career to say, I am capable of going out in search of this trophy ... Even if it is not a trophy, because finally they are victories that accumulate one after the other. That is the most beautiful of all about it.So does Hinault expect that Cavendish, who also won the green points jersey in 2011, will go on to finish his 10th start in the Tour? He has already done it, said Hinault, smiling. I dont know why he wouldnt this year [laughing] ... perhaps to win another green jersey.Malcolm Elliott, a former British sprinter who raced the Tour in 1987 and 1988, has followed Cavendish since the beginning, and has been excited by the riders turn-about of form.It was very much an unknown coming into this race and even this season, just how he was going to be [after being] focused on the track so much for the Games, Elliott told ESPN. The track work he has done is obviously working.But Elliott, a 1980 and 1996 Olympian in the road race and three-time Vuelta a Espa?a stage winner, is unsure if Cavendishs road work at the Tour will help on the track at Rio.He is doing a very specialised event that I dont profess to know everything about, Elliott said. If he does ride to the end, he will have terrific form for the road, but whether that is going to translate enough into the specialised attributes he needs for the omnium ... thats the whole of the story that I really couldnt answer. Yes, he will have recovered, but will he have been able to do the fine-tuning needed for the omnium in that time, as well?Its going to be a tough one to juggle really and it may mean him going home [from the Tour]. He probably doesnt know himself - maybe he does, maybe he doesnt. When we get toward the end of the race as things play out, it will become obvious which way it will go. ' ' ' |
|
Antworten
