USA Boxing Alumni Association Profile: 1972 Olympic bronze medalist Jesse Valdez, who was an outstanding amateur boxer
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- 1972 Olympic bronze medalist Jesse Valdez, who was an outstanding amateur boxer, never turned pro because he chose security for his family rather than take a risk and parlay his amateur pedigree into a prize fighting career. Valdez first went to the local Boys' Club when he was 11. The youngest of seven children in a low-income family, headed by his single mother, in which the kids all slept in one bedroom, girls in a bed, boys on the floor, sharing space with cockroaches.
"I started going to the club and I guess I did well because I started beating older and bigger guys," Valdez remembered. One day a coach asked me if I was interested in learning how to box. At 11, USA Boxing people were interested in me, not me the boxer, and they always gave me guidance. Read more [...]