Tim Dement

Tim Dement's Story Had An Early Ring of Success

Let’s revisit the year 1972, when 17-year-old Bossier High School junior Tim Dement truly thought he had accomplished a miracle. As part of the United States Boxing Team, Tim stood shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the world’s greatest athletes in the opening ceremony of the 20th Olympiad in Munich, Germany.

Tim, who began boxing as a 12-year-old with Irish McNeel’s sports for Boys Boxing Club, earned his way onto the U.S. team through sheer perseverance. Fighting in the 106-pound, 112 pound and 119-pound classes, Tim failed to advance in three Olympic qualifying events. But he held onto his dream and continued to train. When an Air Force boxing coach asked him to fill a vacant flyweight spot (112) slot on his slot on his team, Tim had the chance he needed. All he had to do was lose down from 130 pounds to make the weight.

The biggest obstacle between him and a crack at the Olympics was heralded Bobby Lee Hunter, considered a sure bet to make the team. Hunter was serving 20 years in a South Carolina prison and Olympics powers-that-be were giving him “a second chance.” ABC-TV f ell in love with Hunter’s story and began promoting his situation. “I was the biggest underdog ever,” Tim recalls. But against the 21-year-old Hunter was no match for the kid from Bossier City.

Tim scored a clear-cut victory and soon became ABC’s and sportscaster Howard Cosell’s favorite. In the trials, Dement also beat Greg Lewis, two-time Golden Gloves champion, and Ricky Dean, the All-Navy champion. At the National box-off later, Tim beat Jesse Trujillo when the referee halted the fight in the third round. Cosell almost interrupted Tim’s trip to the Olympics.

As the Trujillo fight progressed, Tim remembers losing focus listening to Cosell’s description of the fight from ringside. “The kid from Bo-see-a City,” Cosell called Tim. A solid punch from Trujillo brought him back to the task at hand. In his first fight in Munich, Tim beat Ali Gharbi of Tunisia, 5-0. But he lost to Pan-American Trials champion Calixto Peres in the next round. That loss, however, failed to diminish the memories Tim has of his Olympic dream.