WITH SPOT ON NATIONAL TEAM, ROSA JR. EYES 2012 OLYMPICS
By Dave Solomon
New Haven Register
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Boxer Luis Rosa Jr., left, enjoys a light-hearted moment with his
father and trainer, Luis Rosa, at the Boxing in Faith Gym on Grand
Avenue in New Haven. Rosa, 18, will train with the U.S. national
boxing team in Colorado Springs, Colo., in October. (Photos by Peter
Hvizdak/Register) NEW HAVEN – As the sweat poured off Luis Rosa
Jr. during roadwork and training at the USA Boxing national training
center in Colorado Springs, Colo., he would glance up at the Rocky
Mountains, in the distance, and wish for no better place in the world.
For Rosa, this is the place of dreams, at least a small appetizer
during his weeklong training session with the national team two weeks
ago. He’ll be returning in early October for a longer stay, and more
training drudgery that is so special to him.
"The training regimen was really tough … they had us training early
in the morning and again later in the afternoon," said Rosa Jr. "But
it was beautiful up there. We were three or four miles from the Rocky
Mountains and the altitude was very high, so it was really good for
conditioning."
Not so good for breathing, but the end game of his intense training
exercise with the national team could be the Olympic Games in 2012
in London.
Rosa Jr., who graduated last month from East Haven High, earned his
spot on the national team by reaching the finals of the USA Boxing
National Championships in Denver three weeks ago. He lost in the
final to 17-year-old Jesus Magdaleno of Las Vegas, but he had already
secured his spot with the national team by virtue of reaching the
finals (at 119 pounds).
When he returns to Colorado Springs in about three months, he will
be training for a tournament in Virginia that pits the U.S. vs. Great
Britain. Then he’ll return to the national training center to prepare
for the AIBA Presidents Cup, a gala boxing tournament in Azerbaijan
that attracts the top amateur fighters in the world.
You, too, can learn on Google that Azerbaijan is bounded by the
Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest,
Armenia to the west and Iran to the south.
And if all goes well, he’ll start to set his sights more immediately
on the 2012 Olympics.
Rosa said he first started thinking about boxing in the Olympic
Games three years ago when he went out to California for a national
PAL tournament that was held in close proximity to where the Olympic
trials were taking place for the 2008 Games.
He was then a rising young amateur on his way to two New England
Golden Gloves titles, along with a wide assortment of other state and
regional titles. But his national runner-up finish in Denver put him
at a different level, and right into the national training camp.
"It feels great to know that everything I’ve been working toward
for all these years has been paying off," said Rosa Jr., who is
trained by his dad, Luis Rosa Sr., at his new gym, Boxing in Faith,
in New Haven. "Now I’ll go out there and meet tons of new people,
new experiences, travel around the world. It’ll be exciting."
Ironically, Rosa Sr. didn’t see boxing in the cards for his oldest
of three children. Years back, when Rosa Sr. used to bring Junior
around to Ring One in New Haven, where Rosa Sr. trained, the young
boy would sit in a corner and read or do his homework.
Suddenly, at about the age of 11 1/2, with almost no advance warning,
Rosa Jr. told his father that he’d like to start boxing.
"I really don’t remember the reason I started," said Rosa, who recently
turned 18. "I just said ‘dad, can you teach me how to box?’ At first
he thought I was joking. He said ‘OK I’ll train you,’ but he didn’t
pay much attention to me until probably about three months later when
I got in my first amateur fight. I don’t think he believed I would
be a fighter."
Continued from D1 It wasn’t so much belief as it was Rosa Sr.,
wanting to make sure his son was committed and doing it for himself,
not for his father.
"I’ve told him, maybe a billion times, that he doesn’t have to box,"
said Rosa Sr. "I just want to make sure that he’s doing it because
he wants to do it, not because he thinks I want him to do it. I love
boxing. That’s why I’m in it. But I dropped out of school in the
seventh grade (in Puerto Rico) He’s smart enough to make it in this
life being a lawyer, a doctor … anything he wants to be."
Rosa, an honor student at East Haven High, is bound for Southern
Connecticut State University … though probably after taking a
semester or year sabbatical while he’s training with the national team.
Though Rosa Sr., was a toe-to-toe brawler, Rosa Jr. wisely prefers
to pick his spots. He’ll slug it out if need be, but he can style, too.
That suggestion comes from somebody who learned the hard way … his
dad.
"Even when he started, I told him, please don’t try to copy me,"
said Rosa Sr. "I was a guy who’s 5-2, having to fight guys almost
6-feet tall at the 125-126 weight class. I can’t beat a guy who’s
6-feet tall from over here (at a distance)."
Rosa Jr., has about three inches on his father and it’s conceivable
he’ll have to move up a weight class. But he’ll leave that
determination to the trainers in Colorado Springs.
"I can brawl, too, but I think I’m a smart fighter and I know how to
use the ring," said Rosa Jr. "I don’t get hit as much, but I do cause
the damage. So I can get in there on the inside and hurt guys, too."
Rosa Sr. is proving to be a fine trainer, and one of his strongest
attributes is that he doesn’t think he has all of the answers. So
he is viewing his son’s selection to the national team somewhat as
a learning experience for all his boxers at Boxing In Faith Gym.
"I’m very proud, and not just because he’s a fighter and made it
to the finals," said Rosa Sr. "I’m proud of him because he’s a
wonderful kid. And you know what? This whole gym is going to get
the benefit of him going there. Right now he’s 18 and learning how
to deal with other trainers, other teachers. I just want him to go
out there and eat as much as he can and feed us because we need to
eat … boxing knowledge. They’re going to teach him stuff that I’ve
never been through because I was never an Olympic style fighter. I
was a brawler. And you know what, when he comes back, I’m going to
be able to teach my guys even better stuff."
It’s the very stuff of which Olympians are built.
"This is what the Olympians had to do, the same camp they went to,
the same training facility, the same Olympic Center, so I’ll be
training with the best of the best," said Rosa Jr.
And be known by the company he keeps.
Dave Solomon, the Register sports columnist, can be reached at
[email protected].