Michael Hunter

Sport: Boxing

Nation: United States of America

DOB: July 10, 1988

Hometown: Las Vegas, NV

Career Highlights: Rather than follow in his father's footsteps and go pro after missing out on an Olympic bid in 2008, Hunter remained an amateur and navigated a tough road into the London Games. He's the son of former USBA heavyweight champion Michael 'The Bounty' Hunter, who died in 2006. After falling one win shy of reaching the Beijing Games in three different qualifiers, including the 2007 world championships, Hunter's Olympic dream this time around was nearly derailed by a positive drug test. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency suspended him for marijuana use, forcing Hunter to miss the 2011 worlds after he had won the U.S. Olympic trials that summer. Because no American claimed an Olympic berth at the worlds, Hunter got another shot at the American Qualifying Event in May and defeated Ecuador's Julio Castillo in the semifinals to earn a place in London. He went on to beat Argentina's Yamil Peralta in the final for the latest in an impressive title run for Hunter. Though he had long fought at super heavyweight and was the 2009 national champion in that class, he lost his opening bout at the worlds that year and ended up dropping to heavyweight. Hunter went on to win the national Golden Gloves tournament in 2011 and became national champion again this year. Hunter, a bronze medalist at the 2006 junior worlds, recently trained with world heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko and is facing some high expectations come London. "This may be our best hope for Olympic gold," Evander Holyfield said of Hunter, "... because for about 16 years, we haven't had a big guy who won a gold medal."

Olympic History: None