Colorado teens aiming for Junior National titles

DENVER (AP)—When Hilario Ramirez-Medina was 6 years old, he used to follow his brother, Jose Figueroa, into the Longmont Boxing Club to watch him train.

Ramirez-Medina would do a little boxing, too, before getting kicked out for goofing off.

“I used to get thrown out because little kids don’t take training seriously,” Ramirez-Medina said. “I’d hit the bag and then play around and mess up other kids’ training. Then I’d come back the next day and try to find anyone to spar with. I didn’t care who it was.”

Nearly a decade later, the 15-year-old is taking the sweet science seriously — and he’s on a fast track to success. Ramirez-Medina didn’t start boxing competitively until this year, but in a few months he’s won the Colorado State Golden Gloves and the Colorado State Junior Olympics for his age group and weight class.

On May 15-16, he’ll compete in the Four Corners Combined Regional Tournament in Pueblo, and a victory there will qualify him for the USA Boxing National Championships at the Denver Coliseum June 8-13.

Moving the nationals from Colorado Springs to Denver will help increase the profile of the event, USA Boxing CEO Jim Millman said.

“They’ve been a well-kept secret in Colorado Springs,” he said. “With the help of the Daniels Fund we’ve been able to move our event to a city that deserves an event of this attention and puts us on a platform with what we’re trying to do.”

For Ramirez-Medina and Ricky Rodriguez, the Junior Olympic champion in the bantamweight class of the 15-16 age division, having the nationals in Denver means a chance at competing close to home.

“It’s kind of nerve-racking, but it’s challenging,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has been to the national championships before, earning a silver medal in the 15-16 age division in 2008. This is all new to Ramirez-Medina.

“I started up this year and started accelerating,” he said. “I got my first fight on Jan. 1 and I just picked up fights from there.”

In that first fight, he quickly learned to be aggressive.

“The voice of my mom came into my head that if you’re getting hit then you’ve got to hit back. Don’t just stand there and be a dummy,” Ramirez-Medina said. “So I started swinging back and won my first fight.”

He lost his next two before competing in the state Golden Gloves. On March 27, Ramirez-Medina beat Carlos Santos in the featherweight title match of the 15-16 age division.

Now he’s ready for a chance to compete on the national stage.

“I don’t expect to win a championship my first year, but I didn’t expect to win Golden Gloves my first year,” he said.

Ramirez-Medina feels confident and comfortable in the ring.

“My older brother and my mom are my idols. Going against them my whole life, looking at the other person in the ring, I know there’s nothing to be afraid of it,” he said. “I decided my older brother did it so I could do it, too. I love the conditioning. I feel more at home in boxing than I do anywhere else.”

Rodriguez, like Ramirez-Medina, won the Colorado Junior Olympics title in Pueblo. A win at the Four Corners Combined Regional Tournament next weekend would give him a chance to win the bantamweight crown a year after falling one bout short.

The 16-year-old is using last year’s experience at nationals to get him ready for 2009.

“It really motivated me,” Rodriguez said. “I’m working harder, I’m running more and doing more of everything. I’m looking forward to facing the guy who beat me last year.”