USA Boxing Departs For European Tour!
By USA Boxing
(April 11th) USA Boxing high performance members departed from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. today for Helsinki, Finland, the first stop of their month-long European tour that will consist of two competitions and a multi nation training camp. Full rosters can be seen below.
“This European Tour will be very valuable for the team’s development in preparation for our first Olympic Qualifier, the Pan American Games, later this year” stated Matt Johnson, USA Boxing High Performance Director. “This tour will also provide a handful of our alternates with the opportunity to gain valuable international experience by taking part in the multi nation training camp in Germany.”
Members of the elite high performance team will begin competition later this week in Helsinki at the 41st Annual Gee Bee Tournament, before being joined by six additional boxers in Kienbaum at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center for Germany, where additional international countries, including Finland, Ireland, and Poland, will train together for two weeks.
The high performance team will then close out their month long travels at the 53rd Grand Prix in Usti And Labem, Czech Republic, which will begin on Thursday, May 4.
USA Boxing Head Coach Billy Walsh (Colorado Springs, Colo.) will lead the team throughout the event, along with National Resident Coach Timothy Nolan (Rochester, N.Y.), National Developmental Coach Chad Wigle (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and Christine Lopez (Rowlett, Texas). Richard Stephenson (Middletown, N.Y.), will join the team in Germany for the multi nation training camp.
Gee Bee and Grand Prix Roster
50 kg: Jennifer Lozano, Laredo, Texas
51 kg: Roscoe Hill, Spring, Texas
54 kg: Jewry Rodriguez, Houston, Texas
57 kg: Jahmal Harvey, Oxon Hill, Md.
57 kg: Alyssa Mendoza, Caldwell, Idaho
60 kg: Rashida Ellis, Lynn, Mass.
63.5 kg: Emilio Garcia, Laredo, Texas
66 kg: Morelle McCane, Cleveland, Ohio
71 kg: Omari Jones, Orlando, Fla.
75 kg: Naomi Graham, Fayetteville, N.C.
80 kg: Rahim Gonzales, Las Vegas, Nev.
92 kg: Jamar Talley, Camden, N.J.
92+ kg: Joshua Edwards, Houston, Texas
Germany Training Camp Roster
50 kg: Jennifer Lozano, Laredo, Texas
51 kg: Roscoe Hill, Spring, Texas
51 kg: Jordan Roach, Upper Marlboro, Md.
54 kg: Jewry Rodriguez, Houston, Texas
54 kg: Yoseline Perez, Houston, Texas
57 kg: Jahmal Harvey, Oxon Hill, Md.
57 kg: Alyssa Mendoza, Caldwell, Idaho
57 kg: Julius Ballo, San Diego, Calif.
60 kg: Rashida Ellis, Lynn, Mass.
63.5 kg: Emilio Garcia, Laredo, Texas
63.5 kg: Dedrick Crocklem, Tacoma, Wash.
66 kg: Morelle McCane, Cleveland, Ohio
71 kg: Omari Jones, Orlando, Fla.
71 kg: Amir Anderson, Syracuse, N.Y.
75 kg: Naomi Graham, Fayetteville, N.C.
80 kg: Rahim Gonzales, Las Vegas, Nev.
92 kg: Jamar Talley, Camden, N.J.
92+ kg: Joshua Edwards, Houston, Texas
92+ kg: Ali Feliz, Danbury, Conn.
Manager Dave McWater Supports
USA Boxing & Its Olympic Style Boxers!
(April 10th) Boxing manager Dave McWater, Founder and CEO of Split T Management, is one of the few managers who actively supports USA Boxing and its Olympic style boxers.
“I first met Dave in 2016 and I was told he was a Professional Manager coming to our events to scout talent,” USA Boxing Executive Director Mike McAtee commented. “Over the last six-plus years I quickly learned Dave is the only Manager who regularly attends our events and actively supports perspective boxers, their coaches, and clubs.
(L-R – Tiger Johnson, Otha Jones III, manager Dave McWater and Stephan Shaw at a
USA Boxing Olympic Qualifier)
“Dave understands that 99-percent of the boxers, coaches and officials who move into the professional ranks started in USA Boxing and/or are still part of USA Boxing, so he has helped support USA Boxing by sponsoring events or by financially supporting boxers and coaches attending events to compete at the highest level. Simply, he is giving back to the sport of Olympic-style boxing where most managers, promoters and media take from our boxers, coaches, and officials.
“He understands the mission of USA Boxing: ‘to create champions in and out of the ring’…”
While boxing promoters and most managers simply sign nearly finished amateur boxers who have developed through USA Boxing’s program, making no investment until after they turn pro, McWaters not only manages a few boxers before they sign pro contracts, he covers the cost of some boxers competing in tournaments, purchases tables and advertises at events, and advises his fighters whether they should remain amateurs or go pro.
“Some aren’t ready,” McWater said. “Their minds are so fertile at 16-17 that it’s a waste for them to fight pro bums at that age, when they could be gaining great experience against future greats in the amateurs. It stunts their growth. And definitely they should never turn pro in an Olympic year.”
Now allowed to sign amateur boxers to management contracts, Split T is arguably the largest and most successful manager in boxing, featuring a stable with more than 75 boxers, the majority of whom are products of USA Boxing.
Split T’s growing roster of gifted fighters includes USA Olympic Boxing Team members such as 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Oshae Jones, 2020 Olympian Tiger Johnson, and 2016 Olympian Charles Conwell, as well as former USA Boxing elite boxers Teofimo Lopez, who became Split T’s first unified world champion in the pro ranks, Khalil Coe, Otha Jones III, Javier Martinez, David Navarro, Diego Pacheco, Giovanni Marquez (son of 1992 US Olympian Raul Marquez), Trinidad Vargas, and many others.
“I have no proof, it’s just my theory,” McWater noted, “but I believe more fighters started going to gyms after the crash of 2008 (in which Team USA’s only medalist was Deontay Wilder’s bronze), when there were bad times. They (young boxers) looked toward Floyd (Mayweather, Jr.). We’ve seen much better USA boxers starting in 2016. There are less gyms, coaches, and facilities today, but numbers are up.
“Medals speak for themselves. Shakur (Stevenson) won a gold medal in 2016 and Nico Hernandez got bronze. And Claressa (Shields) took gold in 2012 and 2016. In the Tokyo Olympics, Richard Torrez, Jr., Duke Ragan, and Keyshawn Davis all took home silver medals, Oshae Jones won bronze. USA Boxing is on the right track!”
(Dave McWater, 2020 BWAA Manager of the Year)
In 2013, McWater founded Split T Management in New York City, introducing boxing to analytics, and developing a comprehensive database of amateur boxers, which was passed on for professionals, including invaluable data that isn’t necessarily reported in newspapers or on boxing websites. Critical boxer evaluations for Split T in terms of signing fighters range from Olympians, of course, to major tournament medal accomplishments, down to winning their pro debuts for one of the top 5 promoters in the industry. There is a method to McWater’s boxing philosophy.
“I grew up in the basketball world,” McWater explained, “which had a lot of tournaments. That’s why I attend as many of the top amateur boxing tournaments each year, especially the USA Boxing Nationals and National Golden Gloves. Most mock it (use of analytics). I have great respect for scouts, but my work has a place. I watch 1000 fights a year.
“It’s a different world today, not conducive to building stars, because some promoters have exclusive network deals to provide television content. We sign who we believe in (based on the aforementioned criteria) because we are worried about injuries, crime, and drugs. We rarely sign a client we don’t like. Boxers are a lot brighter than people think.. Just because a lot are uneducated, they are extremely intelligent for their education level. Boxers are smarter athletes and I’ve worked with basketball and baseball players.”
McWater is especially proud of the female division of Split T, which is under the direction of Associate Manager Brian Cohen, featuring nine past or present world champions. “Brian should be Manager of the Year,” McWater offered. “He won’t because it’s women’s boxing, but five of our female fighters won world titles in 2022.”
Split T Management handles a variety of responsibilities for its clients, including contract negotiations, public and media relations, training guidance, legal services, branding, community relations and Nutrition Assistance. It also has the largest full time employee team in the United States: McWater and Cohen, Chief Operations Officer Ron Rizzo, Director of Boxing Operations Joe Quiambao, Associate Manager Brendan Segales, Associate Manager (female boxers) Cohen, and Social Media Manager Ryan Rechten.
USA Boxing and McWater, like all supporters and fans of Olympic style boxing, are concerned with boxing’s potential absence at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. It is not currently part of sports programming then, because of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) concern with the International Boxing Association (IBA) acting in the best interest of the boxing community.
“We all know about the IBA’s scandals,” McWater added, “but nobody really believes boxing will be dropped in the Olympics. At the least, it would diminish boxing. I’m glad USA Boxing is standing up to the IBA.”
Boxing in America needs more supportive managers like Dave McWater and Split T Management.
ABOUT USA BOXING: The mission of USA Boxing shall be to enable United States’ athletes and coaches to achieve sustained competitive excellence, develop character, support the sport of boxing, and promote and grow Olympic style boxing in the United States. The responsibility of USA Boxing is not only to produce Olympic gold, but also to oversee and govern every aspect of amateur boxing in the United States.
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