Published: May 14, 2008 05:57 pm            

Boxer begins Olympic push

AVON — It’s 9 p.m. Tuesday and most of 13-year-old Anthony Sims Jr.’s friends are likely in for the evening, resting up for another day of school.

Sims is busy training. He hits punching bags with the force you’d expect from an adult. The Avon resident may be young, but he packs a serious punch.

Sims is currently the only unified boxing champion in Indiana, holding the state’s Jr. Golden Gloves, Jr. Olympics, and Silver Gloves State and Regional titles. Now comes the hard part. Within the next four months, he will fight in an annual series of national and world tournaments to prepare for the 2012 Olympics, where he hopes to compete when he’s 17.

“The only thing that can stop Anthony is Anthony,” said Sims’ coach Hank Johnson. “He has everything that it takes, he’s a coach’s dream. He’s in the gym all the time. He’s a fast learner and a good student. He is willing to put the time and the work in to be the best at this sport right now — that’s why he’s winning everything. If he keeps the same behavior, he’ll be a world champion ... no doubt.”

Johnson should know. A former Olympic coach, he’s trained several world champions including his younger brother — Marvin Johnson — a three-time WBA Light Heavyweight champion and Olympic bronze medalist. Johnson has been training boxers for decades, but Sims is the first youth he’s coached since his brother.

It’s been a year since Johnson took Sims under his wing.

“It’s made me win a lot more fights — I’ve gotten a lot better,” Sims said.

During a break in his training, Sims pops in a tape from his two most recent fights. In one — his championship bout at the Indiana Jr. Olympics — Sims connects on a series of punches and disposes of his opponent by TKO in 36 seconds.

The other is his victory at the Indiana Jr. Golden Gloves in March. In the second round, Sims stuns his opponent with body blows. The referee stops the fight. The first TKO is flashier, but the second catches Johnson’s eye.

“I was very impressed, he did everything that we’d been working on,” Johnson said. “He stopped the guy with a body shot. Most of the guys now don’t even think about body shots — they’re head-hunters. But he stopped a young man with a body shot and that’s most impressive to me.”

Sims spends about 16 hours a week training, yet the ultimate testament to his dedication came in January. A week after losing the title match at the Regional Silver Gloves Championship by decision, it was learned Sims’ opponent was 15, leading to his disqualification. Sims was offered a chance to take the 15-year-old’s spot, but hadn’t trained in a week and was 11 pounds overweight. He had less than two days to drop the pounds.

Following a series of four-mile runs and a shadow boxing session in a sauna, Sims and his mother, Tohana, were on their way to Kansas City, Mo. With his only sleep coming on the car ride across the Midwest, Sims made weight and won his first two fights before dropping the championship match.

A third-generation boxer and cousin of WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., Sims’ Olympic quest is motivated by his father — Anthony Sr. — who passed when Anthony was 6.

“I want to fulfill my father’s dream because he wanted to go to the Olympics and I want to do that for him,” he said. “His parents wouldn’t let him go overseas.”

Next up for Sims is the National Jr. Olympic Championships in Ohio at the end of the month and the Title National Championships in Tennessee in June.

Sims is currently selling candy and photos door-to-door in Avon to raise money for his upcoming travels.

Contributions may be made at Chase Bank, c/o Anthony Sims Jr., or fans can e-mail Olympianboxer2012@yahoo.com for sponsorship and donation information.

        

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