Sadam Ali: Former Olympian Still a Contender

The 2012 Olympic boxing team looked promising. There was no reason to believe that the United States might once again not win a medal — in a category it had once dominated. That however is exactly what happened. Local figures who had wanted to be the champs in their weight division have returned to their homes with little more than a story of potential glory.

But what happens next for these boxers? Do they still get to become the next Sugar Ray Leonards sans medal? Just like his fellow New Yorker Marcus Brown, Sadam Ali left the 2008 Olympic Games in China with empty hands.

Sadam Ali: Former Olympian Still a Contender

Photos by Shingo Urier

A two-time Golden Glove champion, he automatically qualified for the Olympic team, just like Brooklynites Riddick Bowe and Mike Tyson did before him. This also made him the first Arab-American boxer on the US Olympic team and was drawing plenty of media attention. This was good for Ali. The idea was win, win, win and make a name in the Olympics. It didn’t quite work out as he had planned.

“My fight was good going into the first round. But for the 2008 Olympics it was really different. You couldn’t hit somebody with a nice jab and get a point. To me, that