S.F.'s Mitchell Wins by DQ, Advances to Olympic Trials Final!

S.F.'s LaRon Mitchell must avenge his first round loss to
Lenroy Thompson twice in a row to win the Olympic Trials.

By Ryan Maquiñana

MOBILE, AL -- San Francisco Ring of Fire's LaRon Mitchell joined San Jose PAL's Eros Correa as the Bay Area's second finalist at the U.S. Olympic Trials with a medical disqualification victory over Andrew Shepherd.

Shepherd, an Army Staff Sgt. from Fort Carson, Colo., was unable to compete after a series of injuries incurred over the course of the double-elimination tournament.

Now the 31-year-old Mitchell faces top-ranked Lenroy "Cam" Thompson of Lenexa, Kansas, in Friday's super heavyweight final. The two have quite a recent history; in June's U.S. National Championships, Mitchell upset Thompson 12-10 in the quarterfinals, but Thompson avenged the defeat with a 14-11 Olympic Trials opening round win last Sunday.

This time, the southpaw and San Francisco State alum must beat Thompson twice in a row in order to win gold, while the Kansas pugilist only needs to win once by virtue of pinning the aforementioned first loss on Mitchell.

Correa, an 18-year-old recent graduate of Overfelt High School, fights Reno's Santos Vasquez in Friday's light flyweight final.