The magnitude is mammoth.
More than 800 boxers will be competing in Chattanooga this week, in multiple weight classes in six age groupings from 8 to 40 - male and female.
And some seen here very likely will be on the United States Olympic team in 2020.
USA Boxing's Eastern Elite and Regional Open Championships will run Monday through Saturday at the Chattanooga Convention Center. There are only two regionals and the Western version already has been held, so this is the last chance for boxers to qualify for the national championships Dec. 3-9 in Salt Lake City.
Elite Division (ages 19-older) winners at Salt Lake will be on the U.S. national team for 2018.
Champions and runners-up in Chattanooga will move on to the nationals in the Elite and teenage categories: youth (17-18), junior (15-16) and intermediate (13-14). Also competing this week will be bantams (11-12) and peewees (8-10).
Four rings will be in use, and admission is free except for Saturday's 7 p.m. Elite finals. Boxing will start at 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and also at noon Tuesday through Thursday, to get all the bouts in. It's a single-elimination competition.
Red Bank Boxing Club coach Skipper Fairbanks is 83 and has been involved in the sport for 70 years - 62 as a coach - and he has seen nothing like this event.
"I never have," he said Saturday. "It's going to be something else, and I'm excited to be part of it."
He's helped by Jackie Godwin and Alfred O'Dell, and they have five boxers entered, including 21-year-old Justin Bolton in the Elite 141-pound class.
"They have 41 in that class, so Justin will be starting Monday night for sure. They'll have the draws Sunday afternoon," Fairbanks said.
The other Red Bank boxers are Tristan Curvin, 16, and Jack Harmon, 15, in the junior division - at 175 and 145 pounds, respectively - Chase Curvin, 13, at intermediate 145 and Zaqui George, 10, in peewee at 60 pounds. The elder Curvin has only one other fighter in his class, so he'll be fighting for a championship, Fairbanks said. The others have four to six opponents to get by.
"We usually end our season in April, but we had several tournaments we had interest in, so we kept the doors open through the summer, on Tuesdays and Thursdays," Fairbanks said. "As this tournament got closer we had them coming in four days, so our five are in good shape."
Cleveland's Five Point Boxing program headed by Ralf Santiago has two entrants: Alejandro Garcia, 17, at 165 in youth and Jonathan Oxford, a 10-year-old 85-pound peewee.
"It's going to be a nice week, an interesting week. I'm looking forward to it," Santiago said. "I think it's going to be a good week for Chattanooga."
Said Andy Smith, who has four Chattanooga YCAP boxers in the tournament, "It's a very big deal. I remember in Dallas last year (for a comparable event) I was blown away by the amount of fighters and coaches, et cetera. And they didn't have the Elites. Adding them makes this even more appealing.
"No doubt some of them will make the Olympics. We'll be seeing the best of the best."
His YCAP participants are juniors Keyvon Long (119 pounds) and Georall Adams (90), intermediate T.J. Arnold (95) and bantam Marcus Hyatt (60).
Smith and his family have been across the nation and around the world with boxers. Sister Abbey works full time for USA Boxing as an event director, and their father, Joe, is a former Southeastern Association president whose career highlight was serving as U.S. team manager for the Beijing Olympics. Joe helped Fairbanks for a while before starting the YCAP boxing team.
"Chattanooga has always been a boxing town, and having the strong passion and leadership of the Smith family and others has helped put us in position to host an event like this," said Tim Morgan, president of the Chattanooga Sports Committee.
"There are 820 athletes registered," Morgan said Friday. "With the coaches and support people we're probably looking at about 1,500 in here this week, and I think that's a safe, conservative representation."
A pre-tournament news conference Monday morning will include 1992 Olympian Raul Marquez, two-time World Amateur champion Marc Castro and USA Boxing's executive director, Mike McAtee, as well as local officials.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.