(LONDON, ENGLAND) – The day
women’s boxing advocates have been awaiting for years finally
arrived on Sunday, but it ended differently than American
lightweight Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) had hoped.
Underwood became the first American female boxer ever to compete
in the Olympic Games in afternoon action at the ExCel Centre,
but she dropped her Olympic debut to Great Britain’s Natasha
Jonas.
All three women’s weight classes
opened Olympic Games action on Sunday with four preliminary
bouts in each weight division. Underwood faced Jonas in the
first lightweight contest of the day in front of a full house at
the ExCel Centre. Jonas entered the ring to a loud and raucous
crowd that roared with each punch she threw. Underwood opened
the bout well, managing to block out the crowd and press the
British boxer. Her efforts were successful in the first two
minutes, and she took a 4-3 lead after one round.
Yet, Jonas managed to steal the
lead in the second round to the delight of her hometown
supporters. Underwood fell further behind in the second round as
the longer and rangier Jonas built her advantage to a 13-9
margin with two minutes of action remaining. The American boxer
came out swinging in the fourth round, trying to make up
four-point deficit but she couldn’t overcome it and Jonas won a
21-13 final decision.
“I got comfortable in the first
round, I was going to her and she was a little bit flat. I was
winning on points after the first round but it changed a little
in the second round. She kind of sat back and boxed me and I had
to come forward,” Underwood said. “I was down one point after
the second round and I kind of felt that it wasn’t working going
forward the way I was so I just wanted to go for her after
that.”
The remaining two U.S. female
boxers will open their tournament action on Monday following
first round byes. Flyweight Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas) will
face Venezuela’s Karlha Magliocco while middleweight Claressa
Shields (Flint, Mich.) battles Anna Laurell of Sweden. Male
welterweight Errol Spence (Desoto, Texas) will return to the
ring on Tuesday in quarterfinal action.
U.S. Result
132 lbs/60 kg: Natasha Jonas, GBR, dec. Queen Underwood,
Seattle, Wash./USA, 21-13
Queen Underwood Quotes
“I filled a spot that somebody could have had but I gave away
half my life for this and it just doesn’t feel like the reward
of being here is enough. I just wish and hope that the fans and
people who have been there and my family can believe the journey
was enough and I’m a champion regardless of the decision. That’s
where it ends with me is being a champion and pushing for it
since I didn’t get the gold medal here.”
“I really feel that I didn’t have any chance being down and
against the home crowd. If I would have sat back and tried to
play games and chess match this, it would have looked like I
wasn’t aggressive enough and I didn’t want that. It would
probably have been a lower scoring fight because it would have
been a slower pace but I wanted to show everybody that I’m going
to do all I can do in there. I don’t like being down and I guess
it kind of bothered me a little bit, being down after being up.”
“I didn’t feel like they were clean shots in there. I felt hooks
behind the head, like more of a push than a scoring blow. As you
could see I was little off balance. I just didn’t let the score
to affect my work ethic in the ring so that’s why I just went
forward.”
I didn’t have a choice (on starting to box young). When I picked
up the sport, I was already older. I can’t take back the years,
you just get older and older. If the Olympics were in 2008, I
would have been a little younger. I think its good that a lot of
younger women are picking up the sport at a younger age but I
picked it up a little later and stuck around just to have this
chance and I didn’t want to throw it away. I wanted to get to
the highest level. I guess this is the end of my journey in the
amateurs, being here.”
“I’ll support Katie Taylor in my weight class because I’m not in
it anymore. I was looking forward to that rematch. I wanted to
get in there with her. That was really my motivation for this
fight. It wasn’t the gold yet, it was to get to that rematch
with Katie Taylor but now I get to cheer her on, I know she’s
gonna bring home the gold.”
“I’m going to keep fighting but I got here to the Olympics this
time. “I don’t think it’s in me to stick around for four years.
I did what I had to do, I waited around for four years for it to
be an Olympic sport. I think its time for me to move on to a new
chapter in my life. Now, its time to focus on something else.”
“I can beat anybody. I believe that I didn’t have the mindset
going into this fight that I was going to lose. I always tell
myself that I can do anything that I set my mind to for this
tactic, this opponent and this bout. You just have to be in that
moment. It’s a bit harder with a home crowd and you can’t let
that get to you. They said I was ahead and once I was down that
point, I felt that it was working against me, what I was doing.
When I tried otherwise, it kept drawing me further and further
apart. Sometimes you saw me in there throwing that big haymaker,
I wanted to say that I tried. I wanted that to land it because
that would have been awesome.”
I hope a lot of young boxers coming up are watching this. They
can pick and choose who their role model is but for the sport of
boxing, it’s not about looking at and saying I wanted to do
that. It’s about actually doing it and sticking to it. There are
a lot of people that can play a game and be on and off with it
but boxing’s full time.
If you slack off, that can set you back for a year. That was the
key to me moving forward. I never let myself take a break, I
never let myself rest and now I think I’m due for a bit of a
break. I’m tired, this has been one hell of a journey. Ever
since winning a championship in 2007, I just stuck with boxing
and made this my first priority over friends, family and a
normal life. I’m ready just to rest and cheer on the upcoming
women and focus on a future for myself.”
“History doesn’t mean anything to
me. The gold medal meant more. This is history for Queen
Underwood and amateur boxing. It’s a big moment for up and
coming boxers, but for me to set high goals for myself, I don’t
think just getting here was enough for me. Being a part of
history wasn’t enough for me. I don’t look at just being an
Olympian as great. I think bringing home a medal would be great.
I know a lot of people look and me and say, ‘hey, you did good.’
I’m going to take this home and later on, say I did good. I will
always say I could have done more because that’s just how it is.
WBAN
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