San Bernardino boxer wins gold at Junior Olympics – San Bernardino Sun

San Bernardino teen “Horrible” Terry Washington gained gold on the 2021 USA Boxing Nationwide Junior Olympics in Lubbock, Texas, this week.

The 17-year-old defeated top-seeded Andres Perez to seize his sixth nationwide championship and regain his No. 1 rating within the 101-pound youth male division.

Past the U.S. Championships on the finish of the yr, Washington has his sights set on making the lads’s nationwide staff sure for the 2024 Summer time Olympics in Paris.

“Terry is the most effective within the nation,” coach Ian Franklin, founding father of Project Fighting Chance in San Bernardino, stated this week. “He’s going to be on the 2024 Paris staff, representing the nation on the Olympic Video games.”

Washington’s success within the ring at an early age propelled him into the native and nationwide highlight, as he and different youth boxers at Venture Preventing Probability starred in the 2018 Empire Community PBS documentary sequence “Hopefuls.”

Within the time since, the younger athlete has asserted his will underneath Franklin’s tutelage, turning into a family identify in boxing circles across the nation.

And but, the teenager stays humble and hungry, Franklin stated.

“He understands it is a protected different to what’s on the market,” Franklin stated. “He’s misplaced two shut mates to homicide, and he realizes that is one thing that’s stored him out of these conditions as a result of all he does is go to highschool, go the health club and go house.

“He’s pushed,” Franklin stated. “Since he was slightly boy it was ‘I need to be a world champion.’ You hear that from lots of people, however he’s the one one I’ve seen the place I’ve thought to myself, ‘This child has one thing.’”

Washington gained 5 consecutive nationwide championships earlier than organizers canceled final yr’s U.S. Championships as a result of coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s not straightforward to win one nationwide title, not to mention 5,” Franklin stated. …  “He positively has that ‘It’ issue and he rises to the event. He’s one thing particular.”