Gary Antuanne Russell of Capital Heights, MD won the 141 lb division at the U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials to win a place on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team. (Photo by Bill Mackey)
If your name is Gary Russell and you are a boxer from Capital Heights, Maryland falling in line and dropping opponents is second nature.
Under the tutelage of Gary Russell, Sr. four brothers – Gary Russell, Jr., Gary Allen Russell, Gary Antonio Russell, and Gary Antuanne Russell – have become the most decorated family in American amateur boxing. Each has won a national Golden Gloves title. Gary, Jr. was an Olympian in 2008 before winning his WBC world featherweight championship.
Now Antuanne continues the quest to have his name added to the Team Russell United States Olympic roster. The ongoing journey to qualify for the 141 pound weight class on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team that will compete in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil this summer continues just outside Washington, D.C. Though he has already won the division at the U.S. Olympic Trials there is still work to be done internationally before he can compete.
Under the watchful eye of Gary, Sr. Team Russell is a family affair. He oversees the development of the five boxers who bear his name at Enigma Boxing. Just like a team sports coach, he develops their game plans and helps them make adjustments during the fights. He is also their counselor and team motivator. During the Olympic Trials he helped Antuanne get his confidence back after losing the opening fight.
“He told me to tap into my swag after that first fight,” said Antuanne. “He also helped me make the adjustments to tighten up my punch selection and put more combinations together”.
Antuanne did and joined a list of world and Olympic champions from the United States to make the team from the loser’s bracket. Floyd Mayweather,Jr., Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, and his brother Gary, Jr. all lost opening round fights at the Olympic Trials.
The bonds of team Russell go deeper than a passion for the sport. Gary, Jr. now assists Russell, Sr. in coaching his siblings in the ring is while preparing for life after the final bell rings on their careers.
“We are going into a new type of business and boxing is that business,”said Antuanne. “This is not something what I want to do forever. It’s what I do not who I am. Olympic Boxers get greater signing bonuses than regular amateurs who turn pro.”
They have built Enigma Boxing into family enterprise that already has one world champion and two Olympians in its stable. As Antuanne pushes forward with his Olympic dreams, he is guided by the knowledge of Junior’s experience with the 2008 team that cost him when turning pro. Gary, Jr’s. Olympics came to a premature end when he collapsed after trying to make bantamweight (119 pounds) and couldn’t fight.
“I watched and learned from all the experiences of my older brothers and my dad,” said Antuanne. “I’ve learned that I can never go out of my element. You’ve got to find your character and stick to it.
Blinding speed and knockout power with either hand could have sent Antuanne on the fast track to turning pro. Instead he remains committed to the Olympic path set forth by his dad and oldest brother.
“When I was nine years old I was stuck on the roof of a two story building and didn’t know how I was going to get down,” said Antuanne. “He told me to jump and he would catch me and he did”.
“It’s a blind trust thing. It’s a blind faith thing”.