2010 National PAL Championships: Final Four Gold Medals

(SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS) – The final four 2010 PAL National Championships bouts took place on Sunday as four men’s open division boxers earned berths in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Final round action was contested in the lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions at the Municipal Auditorium in the final tournament session on Sunday.

Lightweight Kenneth Simms (Chicago, Ill.) earned the first victory of the closing session, winning a final round decision over Luis Cruz (Bronx, N.Y.). The two boxed in a close bout before Simms built on his lead late in the contest. He pushed his advantage to five in the final round to claim a 9-4 decision and his first major national championship. Simms earns an Olympic Trials berth with his lightweight victory.

2010 USA Boxing National Champion Pedro Sosa (Brooklyn, N.Y.) vied for his second straight National PAL title on Sunday, taking on fellow New York state boxer Amir Iman (Albany, N.Y.). Sosa won his second national championship title of 2010 with a 9-3 win over Iman in the light welterweight title bout. Sosa advances to his first U.S. Olympic Team Trials with his Sunday win.

Three-time National Champion Errol Spence (Desoto, Texas) officially punched his ticket for the Olympic Team Trials with a final round win over Antoine Douglas (Burke, Va.) in the welterweight showdown. The welterweights duplicated the score from the light welterweight final bout with Spence winning a 9-3 decision over Douglas. Spence has won numerous national titles over the past three years, but will compete in his first Olympic Team Trials in 2011.

2010 Under 19 National Champion D’Mitrius Ballard (Temple Hills, Md.) won the final gold medal of the National PAL Tournament, defeating Kenneth McNeil (Birmingham, Ala.) in the event’s closing bout. Ballard recorded a 17-10 victory over McNeil in the middleweight final round contest. His victory earns the 17-year-old the first middleweight berth in the upcoming U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Simms, Sosa, Spence and Ballard join light flyweight Louie Byrd (Denver, Colo.), flyweight Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio), bantamweight O’Shanique Foster (Orange, Texas), light heavyweight Marcus Browne (Staten Island, N.Y.), heavyweight Steve Geffrard (Boca Raton, Fla.) and super heavyweight Lenroy Thompson (Lenexa, Kansas) in earning the first berths in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

For the first time, women’s boxing will be contested at the Pan American Games in the three Olympic weight divisions. The National PAL Championships served as the first qualifier for the Pan American Games Trials and flyweight Christina Cruz (New York, N.Y.), lightweight Stephanie Han (El Paso, Texas) and middleweight Kalita Marsh (Smithfield, N.C.) all won spots in the qualifying tournament.

 Sunday, October 10 – Championship Bouts

132 lbs: Kenneth Simms, Chicago, Ill., dec. Luis Cruz, Bronx, N.Y., 9-4
141 lbs: Pedro Sosa, Bronx, N.Y., dec. Amir Iman, Albany, N.Y., 9-3
152 lbs: Errol Spence, Desoto, Texas dec. Antoine Douglas, Burke, Va., 9-3
165 lbs: D'Mitrius Ballard, Temple Hills, Md., dec. Kenneth McNeil, Birmingham, Ala., 17-10