SURPRISE - PAL IRVING GYM GETS STING MAKEOVER

USA BOXING NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: June 28, 2016

U.S. Olympians Errol Spence and Shakur Stevenson to Surprise Irving PAL Boxers at Gym Makeover Reveal

(DALLAS, TEXAS) – The young athletes at the Irving PAL Boxing Gym will enjoy more than just one surprise when they walk in to their gym on Wednesday. The boxers will be greeted with not only a gym full of new equipment but also two United States Olympians. 2016 U.S. Olympian and top medal hopeful Shakur Stevenson (Newark, N.J.) will join 2012 Dallas Olympian Errol Spence (Desoto, Texas) for the gym makeover reveal.

Sting Sports, USA Boxing’s official equipment sponsor, will provide the Irving PAL gym with new training equipment, gloves and headgear.

The Irving PAL Boxing gym has 25 boxers in their program and 75 who participate for fitness benefits with the ages ranging from 8-18. Eight coaches work with trainer Rosario Solis at the Irving PAL Boxing gym to provide all of the area youth with a save environment where they can interact with police officers and citizens from the community.

The gym boasts several national champions among their alumni as well as providing a helpful resource for families in the area.   All of the equipment will be replaced following training today and the young athletes will get the first peek at their new gym and specialized boxing equipment on Wednesday, June 29 at 1 p.m.

Sting Sports will provide the Irving PAL Gym with nine new training bags, 30 pairs of gloves, and 17 new headgear. Sting Sports is the official equipment sponsor of the 2016 Olympic Games and their gloves and headgear will be used this summer in Brazil. Through their relationship with USA Boxing, Sting will provide the equipment for the second straight Junior Olympic and Prep National Championships this year in Dallas.   Stevenson and all of the 2016 Olympians will compete in Sting equipment later this summer in Rio de Janeiro. Sting supports athletes throughout the pipeline from the eight-years-old on up through the elite level competitors.

The young athletes competing in the 2016 Prep and Junior Olympic National Championships and Youth Open will get the chance to box in the same Sting equipment being used in August at the 2016 Olympic Games, connecting the future stars to the present world class athletes.

Stevenson is a product of USA Boxing’s Junior Olympic pipeline and is the only American male boxer ever to win a junior and youth world championship as well as a Youth Olympic Games gold medal. He qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games with gold medals in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in December and the Americas Qualifier in March. With a perfect 23-0 record, he is one of USA Boxing’s top medal hopefuls heading in to the Rio Olympics.

Spence is the most highly touted member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team and has already made his mark in the professional ranks as one of the top stars to watch in the sport. He will look to extend his perfect professional record in a title eliminator against Leonard Bundu on August 21 live on NBC primetime.

The Irving PAL gym makeover is the first of two scheduled for 2016 as a part of Sting’s partnership with USA Boxing and their support of youth athletics.

USA Boxing, as the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing, is the United States’ member organization of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).