Kansas City’s Olympic boxer is famous as the ‘Taylor Swift of Boxing,' but he’s fighting to be known as 'Awesome' at the Rio Games.
Cam F. Awesome of Lenexa hopes to bring home the gold this summer.
“It's super cool representing Kansas City and it’s a very supportive town,” said Awesome.
The heavyweight moved to Johnson County in 2008 from New York to train with John Brown, who’s coached 19 national champions.
Securing His Olympic Spot
Awesome won the U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials in December and still needs to secure his spot for the Rio Summer Games. Awesome has two more chances in May and June after he just missed a top-3 finish in a qualifier in Argentina to clinch his spot in the Olympics.
I lost a split decision against Brazil last night. I did not secure my spot in Rio but I have another two chances to qualify.
— Cam F Awesome (@CamFAwesome) March 19, 2016
Awesome is currently preparing at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs where he’s working on his unorthodox style in and out of the boxing ring.
“A lot of people are confused because they don’t think boxers can be happy people,” Awesome told 41 Action News.
Happy Boxer
Awesome says laughter helps him get through his weightlifting workouts, which he admits he doesn’t really like and is “not a big sports fan.”
“He’s just Cam and he's just a comedian a lot of times,” said Grant Bradshaw III, Awesome’s strength and conditioning coach.
Awesome, 27, started boxing at 17 years old to lose weight, switched to a Vegan diet, and adopted happiness.
“You go backstage of a boxing event, you know guys are real serious,” Bradshaw said. “Cam’s just back there giggling, laughing, making jokes, and having fun.”
‘Taylor Swift of Boxing’
Awesome gained attention for a post-fight interview last summer on ESPN2:
"'Cam, keep up the good work, you truly look amazing.' Some people say 'You're the Taylor Swift of boxing.' I'm not saying I'm the Taylor Swift of boxing, but I'm not, not saying I'm the Taylor Swift of boxing," said Awesome.
The interview left Awesome’s coach staggering to his feet.
“I’m like what? What?! What just happened?!? So I ball up, and I’m just dying laughing. I fall on the floor and I’m in the gym and I was like ‘that’s the greatest thing ever.’ I sent it out to like probably 150 of my friends and I'm just tagging everybody, emails galore. ‘Check out the Taylor Swift of boxing - Cam F. Awesome, how about that?’” Bradshaw said.
Awesome explained what happened during his interview.
“Just things come out of my mouth sometimes, and luckily I didn’t offend anybody by it and apparently people liked it,” Awesome said.
Entertaining Boxer
Once it’s time to throw in the towel on boxing, Awesome hopes to see stars as an entertainer. He’s already taken a swing in the stand-up comedy ring. He officially changed his name three years ago from Lenroy Thompson to Cam F. Awesome.
“If there were going to be another person who was as awesome as I, who could carry that name would be Stephen Colbert and since he’s not changing his name, I decided to take it,” Awesome said.
2012 Suspension
Things haven't always been awesome for Cam. He was suspended from the 2012 Olympics for not updating his location for random drug tests.
“Just failure to fill out paperwork. Biggest mistake of my life,” Awesome said.
A decision that knocked him out of boxing for a year -- but he got back up and wants others learn from his mistake.
Going for Gold
Now he hopes to have Kansas City in his corner as he goes for the gold.
“There’s less road rage when Kansas City teams are doing good, so I’d like to just make the whole city a happier place,” said Awesome.
For someone who's already found happiness, a gold medal would be awesome.
I'm the heavyweight Olympic trials Champion!!! pic.twitter.com/xRoZLLlYvX
— Cam F Awesome (@CamFAwesome) December 13, 2015
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Patrick Fazio can be reached at patrick.fazio@kshb.com .
