Fresno teen Marc Castro captures international boxing gold
Fresno’s Marc Castro became the lone American to capture a gold medal at the AIBA Junior Wold Boxing Championships on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Castro, 16, won a three-round unanimous decision – 30-27, 30-26, 30-27 – over Cuba’s Alexei Rodriguez in the bantamweight division.
“It feels great for all those countless hours of training, those early-morning training sessions. It is all worth it,” Castro said. “The final was against a very good Cuban opponent, but I had the gold medal on my mind, and I was not going to stop until I got my hand raised. I knew I had to give it my all to win this medal.”
I was not going to stop until I got my hand raised. I knew I had to give it my all to win this medal.
Fresno amateur boxer Marc Castro
who won the bantamweight gold at the AIBA Junior WorldsCastro’s run to the championship including a first-round technical knockout of Azerbaijan’s Orkhan Hasanov in the semifinals and a unanimous decision over Czech Republic’s Artur Sachbazjan in the quarterfinals.
Tulare heavyweight Richard Torrez missed out on a medal with a close quarterfinal loss – it was scored 29-28 on all three cards – to eventual champion Mahammad Abdullayev of Azerbaijan.
This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Fresno teen Marc Castro captures international boxing gold."