By Ryan Songalia
The boxing idiom "going to war" has a very literal connotation for Coram, N.Y. native Jamel Herring.
The 26-year-old 2012 U.S. Olympic representative in the 141-pound division has been to war - twice to be exact - as a U.S. Marine based out of Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C. In 2005 and 2007, Herring was deployed to Iraq for combat, stationed in Fallujah and Al Tiqudam, respectively. He's seen the horrors of war and lost close friends in battle. The one thing that kept him centered amidst chaos was boxing.
"Boxing is like a stress reliever and my outlet from everything that goes on around me," said Cpl. Herring. "Whenever I was going through a hard time I would train in the gym to cope with my emotions."
Herring made the Olympic squad by winning the trials tournament in Mobile, Ala. last month, but must first travel to Baku, Azerbaijan for the 2011 AIBA Men's World Championships, which are scheduled from September 22 to October 10. The top ten competitors from each weight class will then qualify to compete in London next year.
Training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Spring, Col. hasn't been the every day gym experience. His sparring partners haven't been the typical fellow amateurs; they've been world-rated contenders. Names like undefeated number one junior lightweight contender with the WBO Adrien Broner and Lamont Peterson, the number one contender to IBF light welterweight champ Amir Khan.
Oh, and the team will receive instruction from time to time from Freddie Roach, winner of five BWAA Trainer of the Year awards, in addition to head coach Joe Zanders.
"It's hard work sparring with Lamont and Adrien, but they're great teachers in and out the ring," said Herring. "Working with Freddie has been a great experience. He's a good person in and out the ring and I hope to work with him more in the future."
Herring making the team wasn't a safe bet heading into the Olympic trials, having suffered what he describes as an "an embarrassing loss" to Chicago's Semajay Thomas in the 2011 Men's Nationals in June.
"People had written me off after that fight but my team never gave up on me," said Herring, who is trained by All Marine Boxing Team head coach and former Cuban amateur standout Jesse Ravelo. "That's when I had went back to the gym with a whole new state of mind and now like where I'm at."
The greatest hurdle for Herring to clear wasn't another man in gloves, it was the grief of a mourning father.
A father of three, Herring lost his two-month-old daughter Ariyanah in 2009 to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in her sleep, putting all boxing endeavors on the shelf temporarily.
"With that alone it's been hard chasing my Olympic dreams because for awhile it crushed me," said Herring. "My two little boys [Stephen, 4, and Jamel Jr., 1] were my motivation to continue boxing because I feel that the Olympics will open more doors for me where I can give my sons a better life. My main goal is to give them the life I never had so every time I jump in the ring I'm fighting for their future."
Herring took home the silver medal in last year's World Military Boxing Championships at Camp Lejeune and qualified for the trials by winning gold in the 2011 Armed Forces Boxing Championships in Texas.
He then went undefeated in the trials, decisioning fellow New Yorker Pedro Sosa consecutively to earn his berth. Herring was expected to face Thomas once more, but Thomas was disqualified for missing weight.
Courtship with Boxing
A childhood friend of Herring, Ashantie Hendrickson, would nag him from time to time to come to the gym in Shirley, L.I. and train with his father Austin. Herring brushed him off time and again, but eventually relented in 2001 as a high school sophomore.
After graduating from high school in 2003, Herring was persuaded into joining the Marine Corps by a long-time friend Stephen Brown. Brown was a year older than Herring and went straight into the service after high school. After completing boot camp, Brown convinced him to follow in his footsteps.
"He knew there wasn't much for me in Coram other than running the streets and he didn't want me to throw my life away," said Herring.
Brown tragically passed away in 2004 from lung cancer, but Herring credits him with helping him find his way in life.
"I thank him til this day because if it wasn't for him I don't know where I'd be."
2012
The situation of the 2012 United States Olympic men's boxing team can be likened to that of the 2008 US men's basketball team, forever known as "The Redeem Team."
Once a dominant force in international amateur boxing in '76 and '84, the U.S. has managed only three gold medals (Oscar de la Hoya, David Reid, Andre Ward) since 1992. U.S. Olympic boxing hit it's lowest point in 2008, when the team only managed a single medal after Deontay Wilder took home a bronze.
"The 2008 team does put a lot of pressure on all of us," said Herring. "We know that the world is watching to see how we bounce back from that era. We understand that we use to be the dominant country in this sport but haven't done so well in almost two decades. But instead of us worrying so much about the pressure, we're more eager to prove that things will be different this time around."
Herring's boxing dreams don't end with the Olympics, however.
"My dream after the Olympics is becoming a pro. I want to be a world champion someday. I just don't want to be any ordinary world champion, I want to be a great one. Let's be honest, there are so many world titles out there that just about anyone can grab a world title. Half of them you don't even know or hear about because they haven't done anything spectacular in their career.
"If I don't go pro I still have my career as a Marine, so either way I'll have something to do with life."
Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and contributes to GMA News and the Filipino Reporter newspaper in New York City. He can be reached at ryan@ryansongalia.com. An archive of his work can be found at www.ryansongalia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RyanSongalia.