COLORADO SPRINGS, Αγκαλιά. (Απρίλιος 9, 2020) — Imagine being the lone boxer from your country to capture an Olympic gold medal, only days after the infamous Munich massacre. Now imagine also having won a remarkable 338 του 350 amateur matches, having fought a trilogy as a professional with “Θαυμάσιος” Marvin Hagler, being declared legally blind in both eyes (having entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. pickup a six-figure medical bill), regaining sight in one eye, then working as a teacher of autistic students for 17 χρόνια.
“Ζάχαρη” Ray Seales has truly lived a surreal life, to say the least, and he’s still involved in boxing at the age of 67, as a successful coach of amateur boxers in Indianapolis.
Born in Saint Croix, Η.Π.Α.. Virgin Island as one of eight children in a family whose father was a boxer there as a member of the U.S. Army team, Seales started boxing at the age of nine. “I have three brothers and we always beat the crap out of each other,” he spoke about his start in boxing. “Learning how to box, για εμενα, was all about fighting to be the first to eat. I had gotten hit in my left eye playing dodgeball and my uncle, who was stationed at Ft. Λουδοβίκος (σε Τακόμα, WA), told my mother there was a special doctor there who could help with my eye. My father was stationed all over and in 1964, when I was 12, my mother moved us to Tacoma, Ουάσινγκτον.
“I had boxing in my system. I went with my brothers to the Downtown Tacoma Boys Club, which was only one block from our home, and my mother could watch me walk from our house to the gym and back. I was the first from there to win a Golden Gloves title. I wanted to be a winner and finished with 14 (πρωταθλητής) jackets. I couldn’t speak English. I knew Spanish and spoke Spanish and English together. The first word I said in English was box. We used to fight three or four times a day and we built the Tacoma Boxing Club. I went on to have a 338-12 amateur record and I’ve been in boxing ever since.”
Seales developed into a champion, taking top honors at the 1971 National AAU and 1972 National Golden Gloves championships. Στην ηλικία των 19, Seales enlisted in the U.S. Πολεμική Αεροπορία, but his mother made some calls so Ray would be able to compete in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Γερμανία.
She succeeded and the rest, όπως λένε, is history. And when he came home from the Olympics, he was told that there was no need for him to report to the U.S. Πολεμική Αεροπορία, because he had done enough in terms of service as the only American boxer to win a gold medal.
Ο 1972 Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες, ωστόσο, was overshadowed by the killing of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, as well as a West German police officer at the Olympic Village by terrorists on Black September.
“I had just turned 20,” Seales remembered. “Boxing was heavy when we went there. Some of my family, my coach from Tacoma, and Tacoma teammate (and 2-time U.S. Ολυμπίου)Davey Armstrong were in Germany. I didn’t know anything at first. I had to get the attention of my parents to let them know not to go there, because there were terrorists with sub-machine guns in the Olympic Village. I was the only American boxer left to fight.”
Seales defeated Bulgarian Angjei Anghhelov, 5-0, in the light welterweight championship to capture an Olympic gold medal, the only member of the U.S. team to do so. His teammates included Armstrong, Duane Bobick, and Olympic bronze medalists Jesse Valdez, Marvin Johnson και Ricardo Carreras.
Sugar Ray Seales’s dedication to USA Boxing is second to none,” είπε Κρις Κούλιαρι, USA Boxing Alumni Director. “His pride, patriotism, and devotion to helping our next generation of champions is what makes him such an inspiring figure.”
Ένωση Αποφοίτων Πυγμαχίας ΗΠΑ
Δημιουργήθηκε για να πρωταγωνιστεί δια βίου, αμοιβαία επωφελείς σχέσεις μεταξύ του USA Boxing και των αποφοίτων του, –μπόξερ, αξιωματούχοι, προπονητές και λάτρεις της πυγμαχίας — Ο Σύλλογος Αποφοίτων συνδέει γενιές πρωταθλητών, εμπνέει και δίνει πίσω στους μελλοντικούς πρωταθλητές πυγμαχίας της USA Boxing, μέσα και έξω από το δακτύλιο.
Η Ένωση Αποφοίτων Πυγμαχίας των ΗΠΑ είναι ανοιχτή σε οποιονδήποτε έχει αγάπη για την πυγμαχία και θέλει να παραμείνει συνδεδεμένος με την ερασιτεχνική πυγμαχία. Members are granted access to a wide variety of special events hosted by the Alumni Association, συμπεριλαμβανομένης της ετήσιας δεξίωσης στο Hall of Fame της Ένωσης Αποφοίτων Πυγμαχίας των ΗΠΑ.
Για ένταξη στον Σύλλογο Αποφοίτων, απλά εγγραφείτε στο alumni@usaboxing.org για ένα $40.00 ετησίως συνδρομή μέλους. Τα νέα μέλη θα λάβουν ένα μπλουζάκι, μπρελόκ και ηλεκτρονικό πορτοφόλι.
Seales turned pro in 1973, winning an 8-round unanimous decision over Gonzalo Rodriguez σε Τακόμα. “Sugarman” won his first 21 αγώνες υπέρ, until he lost a 10-round decision to 14-0 middleweight prospect and future Hall of Famer Marvin Hagler. Δύο αγώνες αργότερα, Seales fought Hagler in Tacoma to a 10-round draw (99-99, 99-99, 98-96).
“Everybody wanted a shot at the Olympic gold medalist,” Seales explained.” I went to Boston and we fought in a TV studio (WNAC). It was freezing in there. I was shivering when I went into the ring, Marvin came out dripping sweat. I knew I was losing after seeing that, but I hung with him and went the distance (10 γύρους). I was having management problems and three months later I fought Hagler again, only this time at home in Tacoma. I beat him but it ended in a 10-round draw. He knows I beat him!”
Seales completed his trilogy with Hagler, but it was five years later, when Hagler was 42-2-1 and avoided by most of the world’s top middleweights. “I was the USBA (United States Boxing Association) and North American Boxing Federation (NABF) middleweight champion and Hagler needed to win a title to get a world title shot,” Seales noted. “I lost our third fight in the first round, but that’s the only thing shown on television in our three fights. We were two left-handers, but he switched to right-handed, and he caught me with a hook. I got paid and they bought him a world title fight.”
Seales has coached two different amateur teams in Indianapolis during the past 11 χρόνια, νίκης 10 Golden Gloves team championships, and he’s still in charge in Indy of Team IBG.
After he retired in 1984 after suffering detached retinas in both eyes, Seales was introduced in Las Vegas to Sammy Davis, Jr. (απεικονίζεται παρακάτω), who paid Seales’ $100,000 medical bill for his damaged eyes. Davis had lost his left eye in a 1952 car accident
“I’m a teacher,” Seales concluded. “I see the way that so many boxers want to fight likeFloyd Mayweather. Their head is tilted, they can’t throw a jab. I teach them to have the right foot behind the left (for a right-handed boxer), and to walk in straight, not tilted or peaking. Heel toe, heel toe every time you pivot is your stance.
“My advice for the boxers who hope to compete in the 2020 Olympics is to focus on what you’re doing and listen to how to get it done. What I really want to do is to coach the USA Olympic Boxing Team 2024.”
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