(JULY 17)
(COLORADO
SPRINGS, COLO.) - USA Boxing's Pan American Games team closed
their training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in
Colorado Springs, Colo., on Tuesday in preparation for today's
departure for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.
The 11-athlete team will travel
to Toronto from Colorado Springs this morning after two and a
half weeks at the training center. Upon arrival in Canada, the
squad will go through team processing before checking in to the
athlete village where they will live and train through their
departure on July 27. Team USA will undergo final preparations
alongside their fellow Pan American nations at the boxing
training facility in the athlete village until competition
begins on Saturday.
The 11 athletes representing the
United States in Pan American Games boxing competition will be:
men's light flyweight national champion Melik
Elliston (Denver,
Colo.), women's flyweight Olympic bronze medalist and World
Champion Marlen
Esparza (Houston,
Texas), men's flyweight national champion Antonio
Vargas (Kissimmee,
Fla.), men's bantamweight WSB and World Championship Team Trial
champion Francisco
Martinez (Dallas,
Texas), men's lightweight WSB and World Championship Team Trial
champion Carlos
Balderas (Santa
Maria, Calif.), men's light welterweight national champion Luis
Feliciano (Milwaukee,
Wis.), men's welterweight WSB and World Championship Team Trial
champion Brian
Ceballo (Brooklyn,
N.Y.), women's middleweight Olympic and World Champion Claressa
Shields (Flint,
Mich.), men's middleweight WSB and World Championship Team Trial
champion Anthony
Campbell (Covington,
Tenn.), men's light heavyweight WSB and World Championship Team
Trial champion Steven
Nelson (Omaha,
Neb.) and multi-time super heavyweight national champion Cam
F. Awesome (Lenexa,
Kansas). Bios on all of the U.S. team members are attached.
The Pan American Games boxing
tournament draw will take place on Saturday morning before the
start of competition on Saturday night at the Oshawa Sports
Centre. All of the participating teams and athletes will learn
their road to gold at the tournament draw and the full schedule
by day and weight class is attached.
All of the American boxers,
including Esparza and Shields, will be competing in their first
Pan American Games in Toronto. The 2015 Pan American Games are
the 17th edition of the world's third-largest multi-sport event.
Esparza and Shields are two of 111 U.S. Olympians competing in
Toronto.
The U.S. athletes participating
in the Pan American Games were selected via the WSB and World
Championship Team Trial and 2015 USA Boxing Elite National
Championships followed by an international qualifying event.
Coaches Ed
Weichers (Colorado
Springs, Colo.), Israel
Acosta (Milwaukee,
Wis.) and Joe
Guzman (Fountain,
Colo.) will accompany USA Boxing's team at the 2015 Pan American
Games.