By Tim Hipps
MWR Sports Correspondent

FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. (Jan. 17, 2001) -- Veterans Julius Fogle, DeAndrey Abron and John Medina are expected to show newcomers the way this week as some 40 boxers vie for a spot on the 2001 All-Army Boxing Team.

Preliminary bouts were contested Jan. 16 and 17, with the finals set for Jan. 19.

Middleweight Fogle, a four-time member of the All-Army squad, enters the ring fresh from capturing the 165-pound crown in the National Police Athletic League Championships in November.

Light heavyweight Abron, a Sydney Games alternate, finally should emerge from the shadows of Olanda Anderson, who lost a second-round, 178-pound Olympic decision Down Under last summer.

"He's very excited," All-Army coach Basheer Abdullah said of Abron. "Unfortunately he wasn't able to win the PALs, but he's very confident. Personally, I think he wishes Olanda was still around because he wanted to prove that he could [defeat Anderson for the 178-pound spot]. He's very confident."

Staff Sgt. Anderson, meanwhile, heads to Basic NCO Course this month.

Flyweight Medina, fighting his way back from hand surgery following last spring's U.S. Olympic Trials in Tampa, will attempt to dust the rust in the 123-pound division.

Abdullah considers the 201-pound class the "most open" in camp.

"We have some good, young talent there," he said of the heavyweight division, where seven or eight soldiers will duke it out. "It's going to be very competitive. The guys in that weight class are on the same level.

"Their only handicap is that most of them are short for heavyweights. But I think they can hold their own. Whichever one comes out victorious is going to be someone to watch at the U.S. National Championships."

Defending champion Eric Prindle, who broke his hand in last year's All-Army finale, and Germany's Deutsch Puu, a 5-10, 240-pounder, are expected to meet for the super-heavyweight spot.

Prindle, a southpaw who weighed in last year at 6-4 1/2, 260 pounds from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, missed the Armed Forces and National Championships because of the left hand he broke while defeating Army World Class Athlete Program's Dennis Maley.

Abdullah, meanwhile, is starting over after losing many of his WCAP boxers.

"We're most definitely back at ground zero because most of the WCAP guys have been released back to their units," he explained. "But we still have veterans here. Medina, Fogle, [Rondale] Mason, [Marshal] Christmas, Abron and [Yamar] Resto are back, so we have a good corps of veterans back in camp."

Mason returns at 147 pounds and Resto at 156.

"And we have some good newcomers who are going to challenge those guys for the spots," Abdullah said. "I don't want to predict anyone who might make the team other than to say that I'm impressed with some of the talent we have here."

The All-Army team will continue training at Fort Huachuca until Feb. 28 before returning to Fort Carson for 10 days prior to the U.S. Nationals, set for March 10-17 at Colorado Springs.

"We separated camp from WCAP so we could focus on setting the All-Army Team," Abdullah said. "It was kind of hard for me to have obligations to both programs when they were at the same geographical location. This way I can really focus on All-Army.

"It's a burden on one installation to have all those sports throughout the year, so we thought it would be good to move it around."

Torrence Daniels, last year's 119-pound silver medallist behind John Franco, has made great progress during the past 12 months, Abdullah said. Coming off a bronze-medal performance in the Police Athletic League Championships, Daniels won't have to contend with Franco, now a Reservist taking a break from the active duty of boxing.

"It's unfortunate that I had to lose some of the guys from WCAP," said Abdullah, who has mixed emotions about returning to ground zero. "But it's always exciting to work with new talent.

"Based on what I see here, we're going to have a good team with the veterans coming in and adding a few new guys. Our goal is to win a national team title at the U.S. Championships."

Camp opened with 48 boxers. By last week, they were reduced to 41. Come Friday night, only a hard-punching dozen will remain.

[Tim Hipps is a staff writer for the Belvoir Eagle, Fort Belvoir, Va.]