Rather wins matchup of local boxers at USA nationals

It was a battle of Las Vegas super heavyweights in the quarterfinals of the USA Boxing national championships Thursday at Colorado Springs, Colo., and Brett Rather came out on top.

Rather used an effective jab in the third and final round to break a 9-all deadlock and defeat Zachary Bunce 17-14 to advance to tonight's semifinals. Rather will face top seed Laron Mitchell of San Francisco, with a spot in Saturday's gold-medal bout at stake.

More important, the winner of the weight class will qualify for the Americas Continental qualifying tournament in Brazil in May, and a top-three finish there by Rather would give him a place on the U.S. Olympic boxing team this summer in London.

"It's pretty exciting," said Rather, whose attempt to qualify for London at the Olympic Trials last summer was cut short after he was medically disqualified for having concussion-like symptoms before his semifinal bout. "I'm feeling much better this time around. It's been a good week, and I'm fine."

Rather, a Green Valley High School graduate and former UNLV football player, was scheduled to fight Mitchell at the Olympic Trials in August in Mobile, Ala. Rather made sure he kept tonight's date, as he stepped up the tempo in the third round against Bunce, who fights out of the Mayweather Boxing Club.

"I didn't know him before (Thursday)," Rather said of Bunce. "I didn't even know he was from Vegas."

Rather said he thought he was ahead going into the third round, but he didn't want to be passive.

"There was a lot of holding the first couple of rounds," he said. "But I knew it was close, and I tried to pick up the pace. I pressured him and landed some jabs in his face, and I think that was the difference."

Tonight's other super heavyweight semifinal pits Los Angeles boxers Dominic Breazeale and Jonathan Hamm.

In the heavyweight division, Las Vegas' Michael Hunter continued to dominate, advancing to tonight's semifinals with a 17-12 win over Robert Jekabson of Chicago.

But fellow Las Vegan Hasim Rahman Jr. lost his heavyweight quarterfinal bout to Steve Geffrard of Boca Raton, Fla., 20-4.

Hunter and Geffrard will meet in the semifinals tonight.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.