CLEVELAND -- Boxing standout Charles Conwell, Jr. won the Amateur Athlete of the Year Award at the 17th annual Greater Cleveland Sports Awards at the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel Thursday night.
A middleweight boxer out of Cleveland Heights, Conwell earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic Boxing team when he won The Americas Qualifier last March by literally punching his ticket to The Games.
Fighting in his fourth tournament outside of the United States, Conwell won his semifinal match against Columbia’s Jorge Luis Vivas Palacios in the 165-pound weight class, and then, earned a unanimous decision victory over Misael Uzierl Rodriguez Olivas of Mexico in an action-packed championship bout.
The 18-year old Conwell, known in the boxing ring as “Bad News,” started the bout by exchanging blows with Palacios, but the American proved to be the more aggressive of the two fighters and utilized punches to the body to win over the judges and earn his trip to the Olympics.
Conwell is an 11-time national champion, the 2015 USA Boxing Athlete of the Year, 2015 National Golden Gloves Champion and two-time USA Boxing National Champion.
Conwell was eliminated from the Olympic tournament in the first round via a controversial judge’s decision.
Along with Conwell, fellow Olympians Tianna Bartoletta (track-and-field gold medalist) and Emily Infeld (cross country runner) were nominated for the honor.
