(FEB 22) Seventeen-year-old
Erickson
Lubin
(Kissimmee, Fla.) officially introduced himself to the
international boxing scene on Thursday night as the Florida
teenager upset 2012 Olympic bronze medalist
Yasniel
Toledo Lopez
of Cuba.
Lubin headlined an outstanding day for the United States men as
all five of them advanced to the finals of the 2013 Independence
Cup with semifinal victories in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Flyweight
Shawn
Simpson
(Chicago,
Ill.), lightweight
Kenneth
Sims, Jr.
(Chicago,
Ill.) and welterweight
Rashidi
Ellis
(Lynn,
Mass.) moved on to the finals with victories in afternoon action
with Lubin and light flyweight
Leroy
Davila
(New
Brunswick, N.J.) taking wins in the evening session. The two
American female competitors fell in semifinal action but
lightweight
Queen
Underwood
(Seattle,
Wash.) and middleweight
Raquel
Miller
(San
Francisco, Calif.) both won bronze medals at the international
event.
Lubin was
the final U.S. competitor to take the ring in Thursday’s action
and he capped a great day of boxing with an upset victory over
the much more experienced and decorated Cuban. Despite Lopez’s
impressive resume, which includes an Olympic bronze medal, World
Championships silver medal and a Pan American Games title, Lubin
was not intimidated by his semifinal foe. The high school junior
won a 20-17 decision over Lopez to join his four teammates in
Friday’s finals. He will compete for gold in a bout with Puerto
Rico's Jose Rafael Lopez Rosario on Friday.
Davila
battled Peru’s
Issac
Nerrera Huaman
in the
first U.S. bout of the evening session for a spot in the light
flyweight final round contest. It was the American boxer who
emerged victorious in the semifinal bout as Davila defeated
Huaman, 12-6, to claim his spot in the championship bout. Davila
will face Yovvany Veitia Soto of Cuba in final round
action on Friday.
Simpson
claimed his berth in the finals by the slimmest of margins in a
flyweight bout with the Dominican Republic’s
Jose Luis
Rodriguez.
After three rounds of action, the two boxers were tied at 6-6
and the total punch count was deadlocked at 22-22. The bout then
went to the judges’ poll and the judges awarded the bout to
Simpson on his 3-2 edge. Simpson will face a second straight
Dominican boxer as he battles
Hector
Luis Garcia
in the
finals. The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico both fielded two
teams for the Independence Cup.
Sims
continued his tremendous run at the 2013 Independence Cup,
winning his fourth straight bout to move on to the lightweight
final. He won a 16-10 decision over Venezuela’s
Luis
Torres
in the
semifinal contest to advance to championship night. He will
compete for his fifth win of the tournament in a bout with
Cuba’s
Ivanonate
Louit
in
Friday’s final round action.
Ellis
claimed the third victory of the afternoon for his U.S. squad in
a welterweight contest with the Dominican Republic’s
Joan
Daniel Santos.
He won an 18-11 decision over the host nation boxer to advance
to the finals. The 19-year-old will face a tough test in his
championship bout as he challenges reigning light welterweight
Olympic gold medalist
Roniel
Iglesias
of Cuba.
Iglesais won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games before
taking gold in London. He has moved up to the welterweight
division since his gold medal performance at the 2012 Olympic
Games.
Underwood
fell just one point short of advancing to the final round,
dropping a 10-9 decision to Puerto Rico’s
Kiria
Tapia
in
lightweight semifinal action. Miller dropped her semifinal
contest to the Dominican Republic’s
Yenebier
Guillen,
losing 15-9 in afternoon action. Despite the loss, Miller takes
home a bronze medal from the 2013 Independence Cup.
Friday’s
final round action will begin at 3 p.m. ET and Team USA will
compete for five gold medals in their first multi-nation event
of 2013. Seven of the eight U.S. team members will return home
with hardware from the 2013 Independence Cup.
Coaches
Ed Rivas
(San
Antonio, Texas) and
Jason
Galarza
(Orlando,
Fla.) are leading the U.S. delegation in the Dominican Republic.
U.S.
Results
108
lbs/male:
Leroy
Davila, New Brunswick, N.J./USA
dec.
Issac Nerrera Huaman, PER, 12-6
114
lbs/male:
Shawn
Simpson, Chicago, Ill./USA
dec. Jose
Luis Rodriguez, DOM, 6-6 (22-22) 3-2 judges poll
132
lbs/male:
Kenneth
Sims, Jr., Chicago, Ill./USA,
dec. Luis Torres, VEN, 16-10
132
lbs/female: Kiria Tapia, PUR, dec.
Queen
Underwood, Seattle, Wash./USA,
10-9
141
lbs/male:
Erickson
Lubin, Kissimmee, Fla./USA
dec.
Yasniel Toledo Lopez, CUB, 20-17
152
lbs/male:
Rashidi
Ellis, Lynn, Mass./USA
dec. Joan
Daniel Santos, DOM, 18-11
165
lbs/female: Yenebier Guillen, dec.
Raquel
Miller, San Francisco, Calif./USA,15-9
WBAN
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