(SEPT 13)  (COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – United States’ lightweight Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) enjoyed a quick opening bout in her 2010 Women’s World Championships debut, but the second win didn’t come quite as easily. Yet, the Seattle firefighter would not be denied in her bout with Tajikistan’s Mavzuna Chorieva on Saturday, winning a tiebreaker victory in second round action. Underwood’s second win of the event pushed the United States’ winning streak to six straight victories in Barbados.

Underwood and Chorieva faced off in the final bout of day three action at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex, and the crowd on hand was primed and ready for the highly anticipated match-up between two of the medal favorites. The two boxers didn’t disappoint, battling in eight minutes of hotly-contested action. Following a slow-paced round that ended with the score tied at one, both boxers came out firing in the second.

The competition was heated, even causing the referee to take a point from both athletes for a chest-bumping incident. Underwood wasn’t deterred by the deduction and claimed a slim 5-4 advantage after two rounds. She repeated her efforts in the third stanza of action to take a 7-5 lead into the final two minutes of boxing.

Yet, Underwood couldn’t build on her lead in the fourth round and Chorieva mounted a sustained comeback to pull the bout to a 7-7 tie at the sound of the final bell. The boxers waited in suspense as the tiebreaker addition was completed before Underwood was named the victor on her one point individual score advantage.

The victory advances Underwood on to third round competition where she will take on Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee on Monday afternoon. Light welterweight Cashmere Jackson (Cleveland, Ohio) will return to action on Monday afternoon as well, battling China’s Qinqin Yang in her second preliminary bout of the tournament.

Two U.S. boxers will compete in Monday’s evening session with welterweight Andrecia Wasson (Centerline, Mich.) facing Junior European Champion Svetlana Kosova of Russia and middleweight Tiffanie Hearn (Louisville, Ky.) taking on the Netherland’s Nouchka Fontijn. A win in Monday’s competition will mean a berth in the quarterfinal round for all of the competitors.

Sunday’s tournament competition will feature three U.S. boxers, including two former World Championships medalists. 2005 World Championships light flyweight bronze medalist Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas) will compete for her second win of the event in a second round bout with reigning World Champion Kim Ok Hyang of North Korea. 2005 World Championships bronze medalist Tyler Lord-Wilder (Lansing, Mich.) and featherweight Jody Ann Weller (Pomona, N.Y.) will compete in Sunday evening action, taking on Hungary’s Timea Nagy and European Championships bronze medalist Sweden’s Helena Falk respectively. A Lord-Wilder victory will secure a quarterfinal berth for the light heavyweight due to the smaller number of competitors in the division.

U.S. Results

132 lbs: Queen Underwood, Seattle, Wash./USA dec. Mavzuna Chorieva, TJK,7-7 (one point tiebreaker)

USA Boxing, as the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing, is the United States’ member organization of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

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Julie Goldsticker
President, Goldsticker Public Relations

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