(MAY 22)
(NEW TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN) – Six
American boxers clinched berths in the finals of the 2015 Junior
and Youth Women’s World Championships in New Taipei City, Taiwan
on Friday. All five junior boxers won their semifinal bouts on
Friday morning and 2013 Junior World Champion and 2014 Youth
Olympic gold medalist Jajaira
Gonzalez (Glendora,
Calif.) earned a semifinal victory in the late session at the
Xinzhuang Stadium. Junior boxers Heaven
Garcia (El
Monte, Calif.), Yarisel
Ramirez (Las
Vegas, Nev.), Zhane
Crockett (Toledo,
Ohio), Guadalupe
Gutierrez (Sacramento,
Calif.), and Kylie
Hall (Fresno,
Calif.) each won semifinal bouts to move on to the finals. In
the youth division, light welterweight Ariel
Arismendez (Tolleson,
Ariz.) and middleweight Iesha
Kenney (Alexandria,
Va.) earned bronze medals in the youth division.
Garcia started the day’s six-bout
U.S. winning streak on Friday morning in her light flyweight
contest with Mongolia’s Enkhjargal
Munguntsetseg. Competing
in her third bout of the tournament, Garcia showcased her
entertaining style and aggressive nature in a wide unanimous
decision win over Munguntsetseg. The 14-year-old won every round
on the scorecards on her way to a spot in the gold medal bout. She
will take on India’s Soniya in
the light flyweight finale on Saturday.
Ramirez kept the momentum going
in the second straight showdown between the United States and
Mongolia. She put her foot on the gas from the opening bell,
winning the first round by a 10-8 margin over Angarg
Lkhagdvadorj on
all three judges’ scorecards. She continued to press the action
in the second round and the referee stopped the bout at the 1:12
mark, giving Ramirez a TKO victory. Ramirez will also battle
India in her gold medal bout, facing off with Sakshi for
the bantamweight championship.
Crockett was the third U.S. boxer
to compete against Mongolia, taking on Namuun
Monkhor in
featherweight semifinal competition. The tall teenager used her
height, reach and activity to build up a lead in her three-round
bout with Monkhor. She continued to pepper Monkhor with straight
shots over the six minutes on her way to a unanimous decision
victory. Crockett will face Russia’s Liudmila
Vorontsova in
the featherweight championship on Saturday.
The lightweight division bout
showcased a battle between Gutierrez and home nation boxer Ya-Xuan
Lin of
Chinese Taipei. In her second bout of the tournament, Gutierrez
won a split decision victory over Lin to join her teammates in
the tournament finals. Gutierrez will challenge historic Kosovo
boxer Donjeta
Sadiku in
the lightweight gold medal bout. Sadiku is the first boxer from
Kosovo to clinch a medal in Junior and Youth World Championships
competition.
Hall was the final U.S. boxer to
make her tournament debut in Taipei, taking the ring in the
event for the first time on Friday. She faced off with
Ireland’s Joanne
Richards in
welterweight competition after waiting nearly a week to compete.
Hall pulled out the closest U.S. win of the day, taking a split
decision win over Richards. She will close junior competition
for the United States in a bout with Kazakhstan’s Nadezhda
Ryabets on
Saturday.
As the most decorated athlete on
the U.S. roster, competing in semifinal action at a major
international event is nothing new to Gonzalez. She showcased
her experience and pedigree in her youth lightweight bout with
Kazakhstan’s Nazym
Ichshanova on
Friday afternoon. Gonzalez once again won a unanimous decision,
finishing the four-round bout with a 10-8 round on all of the
judges’ scorecards. Her fourth victory of the tournament
clinched her berth in the lightweight finale with Sweden’s Stephanie
Thour.
Arismendez took part in a close
bout with Russia’s Elizaveta
Nemtseva in
a light welterweight semifinal match-up on Friday. She dropped
the bout by one round on each of the judges’ scorecards to take
a bronze medal in her first world championships competition.
Kenney claimed a bronze medal in
the 2013 Junior Women’s World Championships and she duplicated
the feat in the 2015 youth tournament. She faced off with
China’s Lu
Zheng in
Friday’s middleweight semifinal competition at the Xinzhuang
Stadium. Kenney dropped a 3-0 decision in the bout to claim
another world championships bronze medal.
Tomorrow’s final round bouts will
take place in two sessions with the junior athletes competing at
11 a.m. and the youth matches taking place at 5 p.m. The eight
American medals are the most in the most for the United States
in the event, up from five in 2013.
Christy Halbert (Nashville,
Tenn.), Kay
Koroma (Burke,
Va.), Don
Fain (Reno,
Nev.), Caroline
Barry (Boulder,
Colo.), and Arthur
James (Anaheim,
Calif.) are leading the United States team in Taipei.
U.S. Results
106 lbs/junior: Heaven
Garcia, El Monte, Calif./USA dec.
Enkhjargal Munguntsetseg, MGL, 3-0
119 lbs/junior: Yarisel
Ramirez, Las Vegas, Nev./USA won
on TKO over Angarg Lkhagdvadorj, MGL, TKO-2
125 lbs/junior: Zhane
Crockett, Toledo, Ohio/USA dec.
Namuun Monkhor, MGL, 3-0
132 lbs/junior: Guadalupe
Gutierrez, Sacramento, Calif./USA dec.
Nisha, IND, 2-1
145 lbs/junior: Kylie
Hall, Sacramento, Calif./USA dec.
Joanne Richards, IRL, 2-1
132 lbs/youth: Jajaira
Gonzalez, Glendora, Calif./USA dec.
Nazym Ichshanova, KAZ, 3-0
141 lbs/youth: Elizaveta Nemtseva,
RUS, dec. Ariel
Arismendez, Tolleson, Ariz./USA, 3-0
165 lbs/youth: Lu Zheng, CHN, dec. Iesha
Kenney, Alexandria, Va./USA, 3-0
