Pin weight champion Conard boxer wins silver, ranked No. 2 in nation
WEST HARTFORD — Conard junior Aiyana Callas took home a silver medal Saturday from the 2013 Junior Olympic National Championships after losing the title bout in a decision to Caitlin Orosco, of California.
The 2013 Junior Olympic National Championships featured 22 championship round contests on Saturday afternoon at the Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center in Mobile, Ala. All of the competitors boxed their hearts out, hoping to win a highly coveted Junior Olympic National title.
The women's pinweight class (101 pounds) kicked off its final round action with pinweight champion Caitlin Orosco (Anaheim, Calif.), facing off with Callas. Callas now adds a national rank to her 2013 resume, after a unanimous decision victory favored Orosco for the gold medal.
“I was incredible proud of Aiyana,” said her dad and trainer, Johnny Callas, CEO and founder of the Charter Oak Boxing Academy, in Hartford, and a World Championship professional boxing referee. “We worked a lot on taking body punches and defending her body and she did a great job, no injuries.”
“Catlin was definitely my most difficult opponent,” said Aiyana, by phone on Monday. “She has great skills and lots of experience on me. Ater this loss it would only make sense to get even more experience in order to improve and move forward as a boxer.”
“Towards the end of the third round Aiyana hot hit with a head shot and to our disappointment the ref decided to stop the bout,” said Callas. “Even though Aiyana responded perfectly and told the ref she wanted to continue, they stopped the bout. Aiyana had no quit in her!”
Team Callas returned to Connecticut after Aiyana received a silver medal on the blocks. Next up, follow Aiyana and Team Callas to a boxing tournament to be held weekends in July in New York City.
“The trip to Nationals was an amazing experience,” said Aiyana. “I flew in a plane for the first time which was cool, competed in my first tournament, and was nationally ranked on my 10th fight.”