(SEPT 25)
Reigning Olympic gold medalist
Claressa Shields
(Flint, Mich.) returned to major
international action with a second round TKO victory on Tuesday
at the Women’s Junior/Youth World Championships in Albena,
Bulgaria. Shields took one of four victories for her U.S. squad
in the second straight successful day of World Championships
action for Team USA. Junior light bantamweight
Ashley Perez
(Sparks, Nev.), junior
lightweight
Iesha Kenney
(Alexandria, Va.) and youth light
flyweight
Marisol Lopez
(Stratford, Calif.) all enjoyed
victories on Tuesday as well.
Team USA’s two junior competitors
kicked off the day’s action in Bulgaria with both Perez and
Kenney facing off with Romanian foes. Perez claimed her first
international victory with a 3-0 decision over
Alexandria Luca
to advance on to the
quarterfinals. She will face Italy’s
Irma Testa
on Wednesday afternoon for a spot
in the medal round.
Kenney wasted no time in her
lightweight bout with
Angela Iordache
on Tuesday afternoon, taking a
TKO win at the 1:43 mark of the first round in her preliminary
contest. Kenney’s quick win moves her on to a quarterfinal bout
with Russia’s
Kaysarat Khazikhanova
tomorrow.
Lopez claimed the third win of
the day for Team USA in her light flyweight bout with China’s
Lan Xiao.
She won 2-1 decision over Xiao in the preliminary round contest
to join Perez and Kenney in the quarterfinal round. Lopez will
face Romania’s
Stefania-Melinda Pantis
in Wednesday evening’s youth
light flyweight competition.
Shields didn’t even make it to
halftime in her first bout of the tournament. The Olivet College
freshman put an end to her middleweight bout with Ukraine’s
Mariya Viachkina
at the :28 mark of the second
round. Shields’ second round TKO earned her a spot in the
quarterfinal round with Hungary’s
Fanni Kaszanyi.
Featherweight
Dida Gonzalez
(Houston, Texas) suffered Team
USA’s second loss of the tournament in her international debut,
dropping a 3-0 decision to Ukraine’s
Maryna Malovana
in preliminary round action.
Three U.S. boxers claimed first
round victories on Monday and they will return to the ring for
quarterfinal competition on Wednesday. Junior bantamweight
Jessica Galvez
(Sparks, Nev.) will face
Armenia’s
Ani Hovsepyan
while her junior teammate
JaJaira Gonzalez
(Glendora, Calif.) takes on
Ireland’s
Amy Broadhurst
in featherweight action. Welterweight
Samantha Kinchen
will look to duplicate her dominating first round win in a bout
with
Tetiana Ryzhenkova
of Ukraine in Wednesday’s evening action. Junior pinweight
Caitlin Orosco
(Anaheim, Calif.) will make her
tournament debut in a match-up with Russia’s
Iulia Chumgalakova
in the first United States bout of Wednesday’s action.
The Women’s Junior/Youth World
Championships will be live streamed throughout the tournament at
boxing.albena.bg
and
bgboxing.org.
Quarterfinal action will be contested on Wednesday, September 25
with junior competition taking place in the afternoon and the
youth women boxing in the evening. The afternoon sessions are
scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT)
and evening action will start at 7 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET/9
a.m. PT). All of the tournament participants will enjoy a rest
day on Thursday, September 26 prior to semifinals on Friday,
September 27 and the event finals in both the junior and youth
divisions on Saturday, September 28. The junior division
championship bouts will begin at noon local time (5 a.m. ET/2
a.m. PT) and the youth final round contests will take place at 4
p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT).
Coaches
Jason Crutchfield
(Flint, Mich.),
William Farris
(Lexington, Ky.),
Michael Newson
(Las Vegas, Nev.), and
Bienvenido “Benny” Roman
(Brooklyn, N.Y.), will guide the
U.S. boxers in Bulgaria with
Dr. Larry Lovelace
(Oklahoma City, Okla.) serving as
the Team Physician.
U.S. Results
114 lbs/junior:
Ashley Perez, Sparks, Nev./USA
dec. Alexandria Luca, ROU, 3-0
132 lbs/junior:
Iesha Kenney, Alexandria, Va./USA
won a TKO over Angela Iordache, ROU, TKO-1 (1:43)
106 lbs/youth:
Marisol Lopez, Stratford,
Calif./USA
dec. Lan Xiao, CHN, 2-1
125 lbs/youth: Maryna Malovana,
UKR dec.
Dida Gonzalez, Houston, Texas/USA
165 lbs/youth:
Claressa Shields/Flint, Mich./USA
stopped Mariya Viachkina,UKR, TKO-2 (:28)
A 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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