The 2016 Women’s World Boxing Championships began with preliminary round bouts in the three Olympic weight divisions on Thursday. Flyweight Virginia Fuchs (Kemah, Texas) and lightweight Mikaela Mayer (Los Angeles, Calif.) both earned first round victories on the opening day of competition. Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields (Flint, Mich.) had a first round bye but she will kick off competition on Friday evening in a first round match-up with Germany’s Sarah Scheurich.
Fuchs made her world championships debut against a familiar foe in Team USA’s first bout of the competition. She faced off with Brazil’s Grazieli Jesus De Sousa on Thursday afternoon in a rematch from Fuchs’ last bout at the Americas Olympic qualifier in Argentina in March. Fuchs duplicated her strong performance from their previous bout, sweeping all four rounds on the judges’ scorecards. She will return to action on Saturday afternoon in a second round contest with Azerbaijan’s Anna Alimardanova.
2016 Olympian Mayer took the ring in Thursday evening’s competition for her opening round bout with Turkey’s Esra Yildiz. Mayer closed the bout in strong fashion, winning the fourth round to take a unanimous decision victory over Yildiz. She will compete in second round action on Saturday evening against China’s Junhua Yin.
Three American boxers will step in to the ring for preliminary contests on Friday at the Barys Arena. Featherweight Stalacia Leggett (Quartz Hill, Calif.) will compete in the first American bout on Friday at approximately 3:20 p.m. local time (5:20 a.m. ET) in a match-up with Taipei’s Hsaio-Wen Huang. Light welterweight Jajaira Gonzalez (Glendora, Calif.) will compete in afternoon competition tomorrow as well, facing off with Azerbaijan’s Ayzanat Hajiyeva in bout 12 of the day’s action at approximately 4:35 p.m. local time (6:35 a.m. ET).
Shields will be the lone U.S. competitor in Friday’s evening action, boxing in the third bout of the late session at approximately 7:20 p.m. local time (9:20 a.m. ET).
U.S. Results
112 lbs/51 kg: Virginia Fuchs, Kemah, Texas/USA dec. Grazieli Jesus De Sousa, BRA, 3-0
132 lbs/60 kg: Mikaela Mayer, Los Angeles, Calif./USA dec. Esra Yildiz, TUR, 3-0
Full Opening Day Recap
The Barys Arena in the Kazakhstan capital of Astana was bouncing on day one of the 2016 AIBA Women’s World Championships, with 35 superb bouts of boxing and an entertaining opening ceremony thrilling the crowds. The flyweight and lightweight-class boxers dominated Thursday’s proceedings, with the two biggest fields offering the added incentive of eight Rio 2016 quota places between them, on top of the honour of becoming World Champion.
India’s five-time gold medallist Mary Kom began her quest for a record sixth title with a win over Sweden’s Juliana Soderstrom in an afternoon session that also saw big wins for Colombia’s Ingrit Valencia and Uzbekistan’s Dilnozakhon Odiljonova. The Uzbek will now be British Olympic champion Nicola Adams’ first opponent in the second round.
Adams’ teammate Chantelle Cameron got her campaign off to a flying start in the opening bout of the evening session with a first-round TKO against Jordanian Lina Al-Fayyad. Sweden’s Agnes Alexiusson successfully negotiated her tricky tie against Italy’s Irma Testa, setting up a tough second-round match with Irish superstar and five-time World Champion Katie Taylor.
In a repeat of the African Olympic Qualifier final in March, Morocco’s Hasnaa Lachgar again got the better of Tunisia’s Hlimi Khouloud to advance to the next round. North Korea’s Tong Sun Ri will face France’s Estelle Mossely after beating Germany’s Tasheena Bugar and Valerian Spicer made history for the Dominican Republican, winning their first match in the history of the tournament with a TKO against Hungarian Timea Takacs. In the final bout of the day, the American Mikaela Mayer put in an energetic display to progress against Turkey’s Esra Yildiz.
