Athens first, Providence next for boxer
PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- As long as he's waited to compete in the Olympics, boxer Jason Estrada is just as anxious to get the games over with so he can start his professional career.
Estrada missed the 2000 Sydney Games with a hand injury, and now the 23-year-old super-heavyweight is favored to medal next month in Athens.
"The main motive is me having a talent and not letting it go to waste," Estrada said recently at Manfredo's Gym, where he trains.
The Olympics, he says, is "like a jump-start," to what he hopes will be a short but successful career in the ring.
"I want to do this as fast as possible," he said. "I don't want to be boxing when I'm 30, 31."
Estrada started training for the fight game when he was a youngster, and Manfredo's was just a storefront. Over the years, the gym moved to a converted former mill, and Estrada and a few buddies began making names for themselves as amateur fighters.
Peter Manfredo Jr., the son of the gym's owner, and Matt Godfrey, who grew up with Estrada, have already turned pro. Godfrey made his debut in May in Providence.
Estrada hopes his trip to the Olympics will be good for their careers, too, and for younger boxers at his hometown gym.
Estrada's father, Roland Estrada, an optometrist who also serves as one of his son's trainers, said it was clear early that his son, Manfredo Jr. and Godfrey had talent.
"People always knew that one of them was going to go somewhere. I think they all did," the elder Estrada said.
Jason Estrada was noticed after he won his first national tournament as a junior boxer in 1996, his father said. He was the best boxer under 16 in his weight class, and earned the same title the following year.
Estrada had to sacrifice to excel in boxing, bringing books along to tournaments and studying while he traveled. But that may have helped him. Yes, he said, college was a possibility, but boxing also kept him off the streets.
"A lot of these people who were outside playing are in jail or dead," Estrada said.
Since he was unable to compete in the 2000 Games, the 6-foot-1, 245-pounder has been atop the rankings in the United States. He was the first boxer to win both the U.S. Nationals and U.S. Challenge three years in a row.
This year, he won the U.S. box-offs to qualify for the Olympic team, and his national record is 261-14.
Favored for medals along with Estrada are Cuban Michael Nunez and Russian Alexander Povetkin, the reigning world and European champion.
At the 2003 Pan Am Games, Estrada beat Nunez -- the first time a non-Cuban won the gold in the 201-pound-and-up division. He has not faced Povetkin.
Estrada says Nunez and the other Cuban boxers tend to try to score their points and "then move on you and make you get off your game plan."
Estrada is trying to learn from Nunez's style, and prepare for the unfamiliar Povetkin. He hopes to return with a gold medal, and then probably won't stray far from home once he turns pro.
Providence used to be a place for boxers, Estrada said, and he wants "to try to bring it back."
"I'm not going to move from Providence," he said. "I've been a lot of places and no matter what, I always feel most comfortable here."
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press
