(NOV 15) (COLORADO SPRINGS,
COLO.) - Over 300 female athletes from 72 nations across the
globe traveled to the beautiful island of Jeju in South Korea
for the 2014 Elite Women’s World Boxing Championships, November
16-25. The 2014 tournament is the eighth edition of the event,
which began in 2001 in Scranton, Pa.
This year’s event marks the biggest in the tournament’s history
and is the first Women’s World Championships since the historic
Olympic debut of women’s boxing in London.
Two of the three Olympic champions will compete in Jeju with
American middleweight Claressa Shields (Flint, Mich.) vying for
her first world title and lightweight Katie Taylor of Ireland
coming back to defend her crown.
Team USA’s second Olympic medalist, flyweight Marlen Espara
(Houston, Texas) is competing in her record-breaking fifth World
Championships and the bronze medal winner will be seeking her
first world title in Jeju.
All of the tournament participants will step on the scale for
the general weigh-in on Sunday morning prior to the tournament
draw at 2 p.m. (2 a.m. ET) local time. Preliminary action will
begin at 7 p.m. on Sunday with the light flyweight (106 lbs),
bantamweight (119 lbs), featherweight (125 lbs), light
welterweight (141 lbs) and middleweight (165 lbs) divisions all
slated to take the ring on the opening day of action in South
Korea.
The event will be contested in two rings simultaneously at the
Halla Gymnasium with all of the action being live streamed on
the AIBA website at www.aiba.org.
Team USA arrived in Jeju on November 6 and has been enjoying
their beautiful surroundings while finalizing their tournament
preparations and acclimating to the climate and time zone in
South Korea.
In addition to the two Olympic medalists, 2012 Olympian Queen
Underwood (Seattle, Wash.), 2012 World Champion Tiara Brown
(Fort Myers, Fla.), 2012 World Championships bantamweight bronze
medalist Christina Cruz (New York, N.Y.) and two-time light
flyweight national champion Alex Love (Fort Carson, Colo.) will
be returning to World Championships competition in Jeju.
Light welterweight Destiny Chearino (Warwick, R.I.),
welterweight Danyelle Wolf (San Diego, Calif.), light
heavyweight Heidi Henriksen (St. Louis Park, Minn.), and
heavyweight Krystal Dixon (New Rochelle, N.Y.) will all be
making their World Championships debuts in South Korea.
Coaches Benny Roman (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Gloria Peek (Norfolk,
Va.), Joe Guzman (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and Juan Estrada
(San Diego, Calif.) are leading the U.S. team at the 2014 Elite
Women’s World Championships. For more on the United States team,
click here.
For more on the international competitors to watch in Jeju,
click here.
The results of Sunday’s tournament draw and schedule of Team
USA’s road to gold will be released on Sunday.
2014 Women’s World Championships Fun Facts
· · Only 125 boxers from 30 nations competed in the first
Women’s World Championships in 2001 in Scranton, Pa.
· · The event is the fourth on the continent of Asia (2006 – New
Delhi, India; 2008 – Ningbo City, China; 2012 - Qinhuangdao,
China; 2014 – Jeju, South Korea) with two in Europe (2002 -
Antalya, Turkey; 2005 in Podolsk, Russia), and two in North
America (2001 - Scranton, Pa./USA, 2010 – Bridgetown, Barbados)
· · U.S. flyweight Marlen Esparza will be competing in her fifth
straight World Championships in Jeju, Korea and her 2012 Olympic
teammate Queen Underwood will be boxing in her fourth.
· · Jeju is known as the “Island of the Gods”
· · U.S. middleweight Claressa Shields is competing in her
second World Championships and hopes to avenge the lone loss of
her career, which came in the 2012 World Championships to
multi-time world champion Savannah Marshall of Great Britain
· · U.S. coach Gloria Peek served on the 2012 Olympic Coaching
staff and U.S. Army coach Joe Guzman traveled to London as well
to assist with the Olympic training partners
· · Light welterweight Destiny Chearino is a third degree black
belt and is pursuing a graduate degree in physical therapy
· · Light flyweight Alex Love joined the U.S. Army after her
appearance in the 2012 World Championships and will be competing
in this year’s event as a member of the Army’s World Class
Athlete Program
· Featherweight World Champion Tiara Brown is only the third
U.S. female boxer ever to win a world championship joining 2001
titlist Devonne Canady and 2010 gold medalist Andrecia Wasson.
· · Welterweight Danyelle Wolf was featured in the 2014 edition
of ESPN the Magazine’s Body Issue
· · Light heavyweight Heidi Henriksen is a yoga teacher
· · Coach Benny Roman was named the 2013 United States Olympic
Committee’s Volunteer Coach of the Year
· · Bantamweight Christina Cruz holds the record for New York
Golden Gloves championships with eight
· · Heavyweight Krystal Dixon was named the Female Boxer of the
Tournament at the 2013 New York Golden Gloves
