Antonio Dvorak is returning with a Gold medal from the 2014 WAKO Pan American Kickboxing Games in Corrientes, Argentina, but not exactly the way he wanted to win it.

After completing his training camp, taking time off work, paying for travel expenses, and raising additional funds from sponsors to pay remaining travel expenses, The Cellar’s Antonio Dvorak was all set to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina as a member of Team USA.

He arrived in Corrientes on Wednesday December 3rd, weighed in on Thursday, and was originally scheduled to fight on Friday. However, less fighters heavyweight fighters attended the event than expected. Only Teams USA and Brazil registered a heavyweight fighter in the K-1 Rules division and Antonio was scheduled to fight the representative and captain from Brazil in a Gold Medal fight Saturday night as part of the LIVE televised event.

We don’t know if it was because Antonio’s opponent saw him practicing or maybe they saw footage of him on YouTube, but the Brazilian fighter refused to enter the ring. We don’t know the full story and probably never will, but it is very unfortunate that his opponent not only disrespected his own team and country, but he also disrespected Antonio and all the hard work and financial/time sacrifices he had made to travel to Argentina.

It’s a very disappointing result, but we are very proud of Antonio for representing Team USA with pride and courage. We are also very proud of the other Team USA fighters, coaches, and officials that attended the PanAm Games. Team USA returned home with 3 Gold Medals and 1 Silver Medal. Go Team USA!