USA Boxing names Augie Sanchez to Olympic coaching staff

All Augie Sanchez ever wanted was to be an Olympic boxer in 1996, but the hot prospect from Las Vegas didn’t make it to the Atlanta Games. He thought that was it for his Olympic dreams and moved on.

Two decades later, Sanchez is finally going to the Summer Games.

Sanchez, 38, was named an assistant coach for the U.S. men’s national team, USA Boxing announced this week. Sanchez will join women’s head coach Billy Walsh and men’s associate coach Kay Koroma.

“It’s a dream come true,” Sanchez said. “Me having my amateur career, that was my first goal, to be an Olympian in 1996, and I came up a little short in that year. Now I’m going to live my dreams and be in the Olympics, but I’ll be in the other side of the ropes this time.”

Sanchez certainly has the credentials to join USA Boxing in Rio de Janeiro this summer. He has coached amateur boxers at Barry’s Boxing Club for 18 years and traveled with international teams for the past decade.

Despite his accolades, Sanchez still had to go through a long application process to join the Olympic staff. He received a trial-and-error run by working with the national team at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for a week. He easily passed and moved to the next round.

Sanchez coached in the Olympic qualifiers in Argentina and Azerbaijan along with five other candidates vying for the same position. After many months, interviews and tournaments, Sanchez finally got the call.

“They gave me a call a couple days ago to tell me I’m part of the coaching staff that’s gonna be in Rio, so my mouth dropped to the ground,” Sanchez said. “I wasn’t sure what they were calling me for. It was a fulfilling moment.”

Sanchez is credited as the last man to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr., winning an Olympic qualifier at the featherweight level in 1996. But it was a best-of-3 series then, and Mayweather won the next two matchups to get the Olympic bid.

“I never thought about it after ’96,” Sanchez said. “I thought that was it for the Olympics. I started my professional career. I didn’t think about it.

“Once I retired, that’s when I started coaching amateur, getting my certifications and devoted myself to the program and teaching the young kids and helping them. It made me start reaching for another goal as a coach.”

Sanchez and his wife, Dawn, have three children — Cecelia, Lily and Hunter. He’s in Venezuela for the final qualifier matches and will leave for Brazil on July 19. The Olympic boxing competition starts Aug. 6.

“None of this would be possible without the support of my wife and family,” Sanchez said. “I’ve been away a lot. Getting those frequent flyer miles.”

MAGDALENO SWITCHES TRAINERS

Las Vegan Jessie Magdaleno, a rising featherweight contender, will join new trainer Manuel Robles in Carson, California. Magdaleno left Joel Diaz, who was his trainer for two years.

Magdaleno will be joining fellow Top Rank Boxing stablemate Oscar Valdez, who also is trained by Robles.

WARD’S FINAL TUNEUP

Andre Ward will face Alexander Brand in his final tuneup before meeting Sergey Kovalev in the fall.

Ward and Brand will fight Aug. 6 at Oracle Arena in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, California. They originally were scheduled to meet last November on the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Miguel Cotto undercard, but Ward pulled out because of injury.

If Ward defeats Brand and Kovalev beats Isaac Chilemba on July 11, the two light heavyweights will meet Nov. 19 at T-Mobile Arena.

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow him on Twitter: @gmanzano24