(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – Four U.S. boxers claimed victories on Wednesday on a busy day for Team USA at the 2009 Women’s Continental championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Light flyweight Laura Ramirez (Bronx, N.Y.), lightweight Patricia Manuel (Gardena, Calif.), light welterweight Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) and welterweight Andrecia Wasson (Center Line, Mich.) all won their bouts at the Abel Jimenez Parra Coliseum on the third day of action. Five U.S. boxers will compete in final round action on Thursday in Ecuador..
Ramirez battled Trinidad’s Stephanie Allen in her first bout of the tournament and won an 8-1 decision over Allen to move on in the tournament. Ramirez gave up the lone point of the contest in the first round before holding Allen scoreless in the final three rounds. She built on her advantage throughout the bout to claim the victory and move on to final round action where she will face Brazil’s Erika Mattos on Thursday.
Manuel earned her second victory of the tournament in a contest with Kiria Tapia of Puerto Rico. The bout was close throughout with Manuel trailing by a 7-5 margin at the halfway mark. She pulled the bout to a 9-9 tie with one round remaining and controlled the final stanza to win a 14-11 decision. Manuel will battle Brazil’s Adrianna Arallio in her third bout on Thursday.
Underwood dominated from the start in her bout with the Dominican Republic’s Virginia Veloz, holding Veloz scoreless throughout the contest. She held a 12-0 advantage at the end of the third before the bout was stopped in the third, giving Underwood her first victory of the tournament. Underwood will take on Canada’s Stephany Walker on Thursday.
Wasson pulled out a closer victory in her international debut against Canada’s Susan Haas, winning a 15-14 decision. The American boxer trailed throughout the opening three rounds with Haas taking a five- point lead into the final round of action. Yet Wasson refused to lose, storming back in the fourth to pull out the 15-14 decision and advance on to Thursday’s action where she will face Brazil’s Andrea Bandera.
Flyweight Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas) dropped her opening bout of the tournament to Brazil’s Thais Silva on Wednesday. After a scoreless first round, Esparza took a slim 5-3 lead at the halfway mark of the bout. Yet Silva grabbed the lead in third and wouldn’t let it go, and Esparza lost an 18-11 final decision.
Featherweight Liz Leddy (Portland, Maine) won her first bout of the tournament on Tuesday but couldn’t repeat her success on Wednesday, losing a 16-3 decision to Puerto Rico’s Ashli Lozada.
Middleweight Alyssa DeFazio (Peoria, Ariz.) battled in a close bout with host nation Ecuador’s Celinda Mejia in her first bout of the tournament. DeFazio took a slim early lead, holding a 2-0 edge after two rounds of boxing, but Mejia pulled it to a 4-4 tie with one round remaining. Mejia scored the lone point of the final round to win a 5-4 decision over DeFazio.
Light heavyweight Tika Hemingway (Pittsburgh, Pa.) will take the ring for the first time on Thursday, battling Canada in final round action.
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). It is responsible for the selection and management of the United States Olympic Boxing Team, and for the governance and oversight of USA Boxing’s national organization of 38,000 members, 1,400 individual boxing clubs, and 1,600 sanctioned events annually.