(MAR 9)
Team USA enjoyed a second
successful day at the 2014 Youth Continental Championships in
Quito, Ecuador on Friday. Four U.S. competitors claimed
semifinal wins to earn berths in the tournament finals. Male
flyweight Nico
Hernandez (Wichita,
Kansas), female flyweight Caitlin
Orosco (Anaheim,
Calif.), female lightweight Jajaira
Gonzalez (Glendora,
Calif.), and male middleweight Charles
Conwell (Cleveland,
Ohio) all took semifinal wins at the Julio Cesar Hidalgo
Coliseum on the day of competition. Male featherweight Isidro
Ochoa (Fresno,
Calif.) was the lone U.S. boxer to fall in Friday’s action,
dropping a split decision.
Hernandez took the ring for his
second bout of the tournament against Puerto Rico’ Yankiel
Rivera in
flyweight semifinal action. The American boxer claimed a 2-1
victory Rivera in their contest to move on to Sunday’s finale
where he will face Ecuador’s Carlos
Chusin.
2013 Junior World Champion, Orosco,
competed in her first international bout of 2014 on Friday in a
flyweight showdown with host nation boxer Nathaly
Flores of
Ecuador. Orosco won a unanimous decision victory over Flores to
advance to another international championship bout. She will
battle Argentina’s Alyelen
Espinosa in
the flyweight final round contest.
Gonzalez, Team USA’s second
reigning Junior World Champion, enjoyed a successful 2014
international debut as well. She also took a unanimous decision
win over a home ring boxer in her lightweight semifinal contest.
Gonzalez defeated Ecuador’s Pallares
Yensy,
3-0, to earn her berth in the lightweight championship bout with
the Dominican Republic’s Brazoban
Carderon on
Sunday.
Conwell claimed the final victory
of the day for Team USA in a middleweight bout with Puerto
Rico’s Luis
Lopez. He
earned a unanimous decision win over his host nation opponent to
advance to the middleweight championship bout and a match-up
with Ecuador’s Ariel
Ruiz.
Ochoa fell by split decision to
Puerto Rico’s Lemuel
Class in
men’s featherweight semifinal competition on Friday.
Three more American boxers will
look to advance to the finals in today’s semifinal round
competition. Bantamweight Carlos
Balderas (Santa
Maria, Calif.) and light welterweight Jonathan
Navarro (Los
Angeles, Calif.) will each take the ring for their second bouts
in Ecuador, facing Puerto Rico’s Henry
Lebron and
Ecuador’s Jonthan
Chala respectively.
Flyweight Antonio
Vargas (Kissimmee,
Fla.) will compete in his tournament opener in a bout with
Ecuador’s Juan
Fernandez today
as well.
Coaches Ed
Rivas (Abilene,
Texas), Jacob
Najar (Indio,
Calif.) and Willie
Moses (Newark,
N.J.) are leading the United States squad in Quito with Dr.
John Drye (Plains,
Mont.) serving as the team physician.
U.S. Results
108 lbs/male: Nico
Hernandez, Wichita, Kansas/USA dec.
Yankiel Rivera, PUR, 2-1
112 lbs/female: Caitlin
Orosco, Anaheim, Calif./USA dec.
Nathaly Flores, ECU, 3-0
125 lbs/male: Lemuel Class, PUR,
dec. Isidro
Ochoa, Fresno, Calif./USA,
2-1
132 lbs/female: Jajaira
Gonzalez, Glendora, Calif./USA dec.
Pallares Yensy, ECU, 3-0
165 lbs/male: Charles
Conwell, Cleveland, Ohio/USA dec.
Luis Lopez, PUR, 3-0
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