Mark it down, Saturday night, October 5th, at 5pm. SHOWTIME boxing's SHOBOX will start off the evening with Newark, New Jersey's super middleweight Olympian Jerson Ravelo.

Jerson is 11-0 with 8 KO’s and appears to be the future of the super middleweight and possibly light heavyweight division. He will be taking on George Walton who sports a similar record of 11-1 with 7 KO’s. Anyone who has not had the chance to see Ravelo in action should be sure to tune in, and don't be late, because of Ravelo's 11 opponents, only one has made it through six rounds and even he lost each and every round on all three judges scorecards.

In case you are not familiar with his impressive resume, Ravelo was the New Jersey Hall of Fame Amateur Boxer of the Year in both 1998 and 1999. In 1998 he won the U.S. regional tournament in Lake Placid, New York and captured the National Golden Gloves Championship in Biloxi, Mississippi. In 1999 he captured a gold medal at the U.S. Challenge Cup, beating highly ranked Jeff Lacy and gaining the #1 ranking in the U.S.

Ravelo was considered to be a leading candidate to represent the middleweight division at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. However, a controversial loss to Jeff Lacy at the Olympic trials seemed to have killed Ravelo's dream of fighting in the Olympics. He was given new life when granted an opportunity to fight for the chance to make the Dominican Olympic team, since he holds dual citizenship. Although the Dominican team was already chosen, the officials agreed to see him perform at the Independence Cup. Ravelo wouldn't let the opportunity slip away again as he fought and won three fights, knocking out two of his three opponents. He then had to score a win over one of the three Olympic qualifiers from the United States to make the Dominican team, and he finally gained his spot on the Olympic team with a victory at the second qualifier in Tijuana, Mexico.

Unfortunately, in Ravelo's first Olympic bout he was matched up with the host country's boxer. Back in Ravelo’s home city of Newark, New Jersey, everyone was eagerly anticipating his bout. Those who had been following his progress were -and continue to be- very proud of his accomplishments and confident that the Olympics was only the beginning of bigger things to come. When Ravelo's first Olympic bout came on the air, there was a crowd of friends watching a tiny television in East Newark's Red Brick Gym. After two rounds Ravelo was ahead 7-3 and appeared to be in control of the bout. Jerson’s friends back in Newark were psyched while watching the bout and seeing their man put on a good performance.

The score in the final two rounds appeared to be incorrect, however, as the judges stopped awarding Jerson points after round two. Leading 7-3 after two, the judges awarded the Australian fighter an 8-7 win after four rounds. The bout reminded many people of how bad the scoring often is in the Olympics; and the ringside commentators reminisced of that all too famous episode back in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, where Roy Jones, Jr. was denied the gold.

Ravelo turned pro after the Olympics and has not had any problem taking care of his first 11 opponents, knocking out 8 of them. He has fought on several major cards, making his pro debut on DiBella Entertainment's "Night of Olympians", and has fought on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins vs. Keith Holmes, and also on the Jameel McCline vs. Shannon Briggs card. He was the first 2000 Olympian to reach double digits in victories and he has been facing competitive fighters, unlike other well protected up and coming prospects.