(SEPT 15)  (COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – Just 48 hours after her dramatic upset victory over a defending World Champion, flyweight Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas) suffered a heartbreaking two-point loss at the Women’s World Championships in Bridgetown, Barbados. Esparza took on Thailand’s Peamwilai Laopeam in the lone bout for the United States’ team in Tuesday’s action at the Gabers Sabers Sports Complex, and she fell just short in her bid for a quarterfinal berth.

Points were at a premium in the bout with each boxer scoring only one point a piece in the first half of the preliminary round match-up. Both Esparza and Laopeam tripled their point totals in the third stanza as the bout moved into the final round deadlocked at three. The final round would determine the winner and Laopeam scored the lone two points of the fourth stanza to win a 5-3 decision and eliminate Esparza from the Women’s World Championships.

The four U.S. boxers currently in World Championships contention will compete in quarterfinal action on Wednesday. Lightweight Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) will take the ring for her fourth bout of the 2010 Women’s World Championships in the afternoon session as she faces off with European Championships silver medalist Denitsa Eliseeva of Bulgaria. Underwood has already attracted a great deal of attention in Barbados, giving up a grand total of seven points in her three tournament bouts.

The remaining American boxers will all box in the evening session, beginning at 7:30 p.m. EST. Light welterweight Cashmere Jackson (Cleveland, Ohio) will kick off the U.S. action, taking on North Korea’s Yong Ri Suk. The quarterfinal contest will be the third bout of the tournament for Jackson, who hopes to add another win to her undefeated record on Wednesday night.

In welterweight action, 2009 Women’s Continental Championships silver medalist and two-time national champion Andrecia Wasson (Centerline, Mich.) will vie for a quarterfinal berth in a preliminary contest with Australia’s Naomi Lee Fischer-Rasmussen. Wasson has enjoyed two victories in Barbados, including a strong win over Russia on Sunday night.

Heavyweight Denise Rico (Los Angeles, Calif.) will make her tournament debut on Wednesday night in a match-up with China’s Yunfei Li. All of the victors in Wednesday’s action will advance on to semifinal competition on Friday with Thursday serving as a rest day for all of the competitors.


U.S. Results

112 lbs: Peamwilai Laopeam, THA, dec. Marlen Esparza, Houston, Texas/USA, 5-3; 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).

Julie Goldsticker
President, Goldsticker Public Relation

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