Chaise Nelson’s goal is to be a member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Boxing team. And he is literally fighting his way to the goal. The 15-year-old Junior World Team Open Champion recently returned from the 2013 Junior Olympic National Championships where he won the silver medal by a split decision.
Nelson, whose given names is Michael Chaise Nelson in the boxing records, already earned his place on the 13 member U.S. Junior Olympic Boxing team and has been training with the team. Nelson is from Mansfield and was a freshman at Ontario High School last year.
He fought four times at the National Championship in June in Mobile, ALA. and lost the gold by a split decision. Isidro Ochoa, of Fresno, CA, became the second returning champion to claim the gold medal in Mobile.
“As long as I’m landing more shots, it doesn’t matter to me,” Nelson said of losing the gold.
In the first round of his first bout in Mobile, Nelson faced Drayden Maes, of Rawlins, WY.
“I got an elbow in my left eye. That’s my first fighting through an injury,” added Nelson. Typically, Nelson’s speed keeps his opponents from making contact but everyone he fought at Mobile was a champion.
His father added, “People don’t understand the level he fights at. Since last year he’s had 22 fights; 18 were at the national level, one was a Canadian fight, and one was an international tournament in the Ukraine against a multiple time national champion.”
Coach Billy Salser said he’d never heard of a split decision in the junior division before. He said a split decision meant it was a close match.
“The other kid was really good. The more we watched the video of the fight, the more we saw that Chaise was busier than his opponent,” said coach and father Mike Nelson.
Salser added, “That kid was the returning champion from the year before. They both fought their way up, and to get to that tournament, you have to win state and then regional. The whole USA team participated with at-large statuses because they were fighting in the Ukraine during the regional competitions.”
The U.S. Junior Olympic team came away from the event with two gold and two silver medals. Salser also noted that for the first time, professional style, 10 point scoring, was applied to the event.
Later this month, Nelson will join the US Junior Boxing Team at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for a training camp. He will also return to Colorado in August for two more training camps. In September, he will fly to the Ukraine for the 10-day Amateur World Boxing Championships as the 125 lb. class representative of the 13-member Team USA.
It’s an honor.
“For America, a junior has never won it in any weight class. This is the first USA Junior Team ever,” said Salser.
With a small window of time in Mansfield, Nelson and his coaches planned to have a show fight in August in Mansfield to raise funds to send one or both of his coaches with him to the Ukraine. But the show site fell through and they are anxiously looking for another host site. The Olympic team pays Nelson’s expenses but not those of his coaches.
