Lesson learned, Luis Yanez

BEIJING –- Luis Yanez is back on the U.S. boxing team.

And with the first bout in the 106-pound weight class just a week away, everyone is trying to put the feud that led to his suspension behind them.

“Luis and I have never had a problem,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “In all reality, Luis got some very bad advice. That’s all there is to it.”

The advice in question led Yanez, a Pan American Games gold medalist and two-time national champion, to miss, without permission, three weeks of training camp and a team trip to Argentina.

In response, he was kicked off the team three weeks before the U.S. boxers left for China. Following protracted negotiations, Yanez was reinstated after publicly apologizing to USA Boxing, his coaches and teammates.

“I’m glad it’s all over,” Yanez said after a team workout here Tuesday. “Everybody always has a lesson to learn. There’s some roads that you take. And I chose that road. It wasn’t the right road, I’ll let you know that.

“[But] it made me real strong. It really did.”

It also may have made the 19-year-old a little cocky. When a trio of Chinese reporters asked Yanez if he had anything to say to two-time world champion Zou Shi Ming, the most successful amateur boxer in China’s history -- and a likely Yanez opponent here -- Yanez responded “nihao,” the Chinese word for hello. “I’m going to leave the rest of it in the ring.”

Earlier, however, when the same reporters asked Yanez if he had taken in any of Beijing’s sights, he said he had been to the silk market, famous for its handmade suits, where he is having a black outfit made.

“That way I can wear my gold medal with it,” he said.

“It’s going to be a big upset,” he said. “There’s no way he can be working two or three times harder than me. I’m looking forward to having that gold medal around my neck.”

-- Kevin Baxter

Photo: Boxer Luis Yanez celebrates after wining an Aug. 25, 2007, fight during the finals of the U.S. Olympic team boxing trials in Houston. Credit: Matt Slocum / Associated Press

Q & A with U.S. boxer Luis Yanez

The U.S. Olympic boxing team arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin final training for the Summer Olympics. Among the boxers now practicing at Beijing Normal University is light flyweight Luis Yanez, who was reinstated to the Olympic team in mid-July after being kicked off earlier in the summer for missing more than two weeks of practice.

Yanez shared some of his thoughts during a Q&A conducted by a team representative. Here are some of her questions and his answers.

Q: How are you feeling now just nine days out from the Opening Ceremonies?

A: I feel good, I feel strong, I feel confident and I’m just ready.

Q: What is the most challenging part of being here in Beijing?

A: Staying focused, because we have so many distractions around you, such as media. You have a lot of people coming up to you. I keep pushing myself to stay focused.

Q: What was the one thing you wanted to make sure you brought to China?

A: One thing I wanted to bring to China with me was my family, and they are here in my heart, but also my motivation and my confidence. I take my rosary everywhere with me, and it was blessed by my grandmother and I take that everywhere I go.

Q: Are any family and friends coming to China to support you?

A: Not at all.

Q: What does being an Olympian mean to you?

A: It means that I can represent my country, myself and my family, and I know that I am someone out there representing something positive.

Q: What can people expect to see from you when you finally take the ring at the Workers Indoor Arena?

A: For sure, confidence. They are going to see I am a new and different Luis coming in. They are going to think that Luis Yanez that competes on the 13th is a whole new Luis.

Q: What is your favorite thing to eat here?

A: Pasta

Photo: Boxer Luis Yanez during the 2007 Panamerican Games competition in Rio de Janeiro.  Credit: Jorge Saenz / Associated Press

Texas boxer is allowed back on U.S. team

Luis Yanez, the 19-year-old light flyweight who was banned from the U.S. boxing team after skipping several workouts, is back on the team today.

An agreement was reached late Tuesday, something first reported by the Dallas Morning News in its online edition.

In return for being allowed to return, Yanez publicly apologized to USA Boxing chief executive Jim Millman, to national director of coaching Dan Campbell and to teammates.

"I want to thank USA Boxing for its understanding and sense of forgiveness. I sincerely apologize to head coach Campbell, to my teammates, and to USA Boxing for not only breaking the rules of the Athlete Code of Conduct, but also for my lack of candor regarding the circumstances of my absence from the Resident Program," Yanez said in a statement issued through USA Boxing. "Coach Campbell and USA Boxing gave me every opportunity to return to the program so that I could compete in Beijing, and I was irresponsible in ignoring their flexibility, and not being forthcoming with them throughout my absence."

Yanez, a two-time U.S. champion who won a gold medal at the Pan-Am Games last year, was kicked off the team July 1 for skipping more than three weeks of workouts at the team’s residency program at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Campbell and Millman said they didn’t hear from Yanez, who left June 4 for his native Duncanville, Texas, until shortly before they sent a formal letter setting a final deadline for his return.

Yanez missed a training trip to Argentina in late June because he needed to attend a sendoff dinner in Dallas where a Texas state representative gave him a commemorative plaque

As part of the agreement, Yanez also will submit to ongoing evaluation with U.S. Olympic Committee sports psychologists and pay an undisclosed financial penalty, USA Boxing spokeswoman Julie Goldsticker said today.

He also has agreed to make no further public remarks regarding the case.

"Luis is a young man who has recognized and admitted poor judgment about his actions over the past month, and has apologized to his teammates and coaches," Millman said in a statement. "This agreement will let him return in time to participate in the final team camp in Colorado Springs, and in the pre-Olympic training sessions in Beijing. We’re pleased that Luis will have a chance to pursue his Olympic dreams in Beijing."

-- Debbie Goffa

Photo: In August, Luis Yanez was triumphant in the final of the U.S. Olympic team boxing trials in Houston. Credit: Matt Slocum / Associated Press

Golden Boy joins USA Boxing

Oscar De La Hoya thinks he can provide the one-two punch that will help turn the U.S. boxing team into an Olympic powerhouse. How? De La Hoya's Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions today announced that it had signed an agreement to help USA Boxing improve the training and promotion of this country's amateur boxers.

"Boxing is light years behind the other sports," Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions' chief executive, said during a phone interview. "I can open up the L.A. Times and read about Amanda Beard and these other athletes, but I don't read anything about young kids who have decided to participate in boxing."

De La Hoya returned from the 1992 Barcelona Games with the boxing team's only gold medal and then fought his way to a lucrative professional career in the ring. De La Hoya plans "a hands-on involvement" with up-and-coming amateurs, Schaefer said.

Golden Boy Productions plans to use its ties to arena managers, including L.A.-based AEG, to move amateur bouts to more-visible locations. It also hopes to use its media connections, including its ownership of Ring magazine, to publicize amateur boxers.

USA Boxing CEO Jim Millman said in a news release today that "Golden Boy Promotions has set the gold standard in terms of a top-quality approach to the sport and business of boxing. This alliance will help USA Boxing accelerate its growth and development in many areas, while giving our elite athletes the benefit of more time spent with Oscar De La Hoya."

Want to feel old? Check out this picture of De La Hoya in Barcelona in 1992 from the USA Boxing website.

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Oscar De La Hoya celebrates on May 3 after getting the decision over Steve Forbes during their junior middleweight bout at the Home Depot Center. Credit: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images