2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto

They're eleven days in now, and wrapping up on Sunday.

Boxing highlights:

Marlen Esparza of the USA (2012 Olympic bronze medalist) advanced into the finals @ flyweight earlier tonight, defeating Monica Gonzalez-Rivera of Puerto Rico in the semifinals by shutout, and Claudia Parrales Guevara of Nicaragua by shutout in the quarterfinals yesterday. Esparza will face Mandy Bujold of Canada on Saturday in the gold match.

In the women's 60kg/lightweight division, the finals, also on Saturday, will pit Dayana Sanchez of Argentina vs. Caroline Veyre of Canada.

In the 75kg/middleweight, the maximum weight class for women, Claressa Shields of the USA joins her American teammate Esparza in action on Saturday as she takes on Dominican puncher Yenebier Guillén Benítez, looking to add to her gold collection having gone all the way in London in 2012. Shields has met & defeated Guillén Benítez twice before in other tourneys, once by shutout.

Men's boxing has ten divisions, some with the semifinals already completed and some yet to come during the week. All boxing finals, male or female, will be conducted on Friday & Saturday.

One to watch out for: Cam Awesome, the southpaw counter-puncher at super heavyweight, is set to square off with fellow southpaw Lenier Eunice Pero of Cuba on Thursday at 9:05pm EST. Awesome has compiled a stellar amateur CV having never fought in as much as light sparring until just under a decade ago, when he was 17. He defeated Bryant Jennings in the G.G. in 2009, and dealt Tor Hamer the only defeat of his amateur career. He's a 4x United States champ and 3x G.G. champ. His opponent, however, is the Pan Am champ from 2011. It should be a good one. :bbb

 

Lenier Pero vs. Yamil Peralta:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG_fc3V7az8

Cam Awesome vs. Bryant Jennings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEO88oyQSI0

 

For the record, Jennings has gone on record giving Awesome full credit for besting him and gives him due props for being a crafty fighter.

 

Awesome has a very different build & style to Pero. It will be fascinating to see which lefty can impose themselves - Awesome with his bulky frame and unorthodoxy, or Pero with his lithe & lean jaguar's physique and more classical slickness.

 

Bear in mind watching Awesome vs. Jennings (as he does at times look crude) - the kid hadn't laced up gloves less than four years before that. Jennings was, meanwhile, fully matured and months away from his pro debut...and readily admits that he got schooled.

He also has been polishing his skills for six years since then - albeit having been shelved for one due to a very odd suspension. (the anti-doping folks couldn't track down his whereabouts inside the allotted window for an off-season random testing, so he was penalized despite never having failed a test, just for being unreachable)

 

Claressa Shields was profiled, briefly, on SportsCenter on ESPN tonight after her victory, and most of the action from the Games (including the bulk of the day's boxing events in full) was televised live on ESPN2, culminating in the US men's basketball team slaughtering Venezuela.

 

Yamil Peralta is a good scalp for Pero, for anyone unfamiliar. He dropped a close decision to Kubrat's brother Tervel Pulev in London in 2012, eliminated before the medal stage but having advanced past the RO16.

 

Coverage resumes tomorrow, 6pm EST.

 

Tuesday - men's & women's boxing:
http://espn.go.com/watchespn/player/_/id/2603202/

 

Boxing wraps today.