The ten gold medal bouts of the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Jeju were held in the front of the local boxing fans, as Ireland’s legendary Katie Taylor secured her fifth title in a row, US London 2012 Olympic Champion Claressa Shields won her first AIBA Women’s Championships gold, while Atheyna Bylon of Panama became one of the greatest sportswomen in the history of her country.
Bout of the day
Katie Taylor began her boxing career with her coach and father Peter Taylor in the city of Bray back in 1998 at the age of 12, and the Irish boxer joined the national squad in 2004, winning her first AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, India in 2006.
She has subsequently successfully defended her throne in Ningbo City in 2008, in Bridgetown in 2010 and in Qinhuangdao in 2012.
Besides those gold medals, Taylor also won the London 2012 Olympic Games, and all continental Championships since 2005.
Her most difficult fight should have been held in the quarter-finals against Russia’s two-time AIBA Women’s World Champion Sofya Ochigava, but the Russian was forced to pull out before the bout due to injury.
Taylor had a tough contest in the semi-finals against China’s Asian Games winner Yin Junhua before her Asian opponent also became injured during the third round of their fight.
The Irish icon then had to meet for the gold medal with 27-year-old Yana Alekseevna to secure her fifth title.
Azerbaijan’s lone finalist tried to get close in the opening round of the Lightweight class (60 kg) final, but Taylor picked up the pace in the second round, and proved her undoubted class throughout the contest, ultimately winning a well deserved fifth gold medal.
Team of the day
London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Marlen Esparza also claimed a bronze medal in her first AIBA Women’s World Championships in New Delhi, and the 25-year-old’s Flyweight class (51 kg) final was against England’s Lisa Whiteside who replaced London 2012 Olympic Champion Nicola Adams in their squad.
Her English rival claimed a bronze medal at the last edition of the AIBA Women’s World Championships in Qinhuangdao at the Featherweight class (57 kg), and Whiteside was able to control the opening portion of the fight, before Esparza improved her tactics as the fight progressed.
The US boxer displayed wonderful footwork in the middle part of the bout, and her efforts were enough to win by a narrow split decision.
Claressa Shields is only 19, but she had won all of the major events during her career excluding the AIBA Women’s World Championships.
America’s teenage sensation defeated China’s Incheon 2014 Asian Games winner Li Qian in the final to complete the golden set.
The defence of Shields was excellent, and her energy unparalleled as she won the bout by unanimous decision and achieved her first World Championships title.
Surprises of the day
Bulgaria’s Stanimira Petrova defeated four tough rivals on the road to the finals which was surprising enough as she was relatively unknown coming into the Championships, but her final opponent was the main favourite of the Bantamweight class (54 kg), Italy’s defending EUBC European Women’s Continental Champion Marzia Davide.
The Italian claimed her first medal, a silver at the 2nd edition of the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Antalya twelve years ago, and was looking for gold over a decade later.
This was a rematch of a bout they had at the Mohamed VI Trophy in Marrakech last month, which was won closely by Davide.
In the return match, Petrova’s tactics were much better against the Italian veteran, and her youth and sheer effort delivered an unexpected gold medal in Jeju.
Panama’s Atheyna Bylon claimed a silver medal in the South American Games in Santiago de Chile on March which was her career highlight before these Championships, and the ‘AIBA Road to Jeju Program’ member used all her recent experience to remarkable effect in Korea.
After becoming the first women’s boxer from Panama to win just one bout in a AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, she then went all the way and claimed the Welterweight class (69 kg) gold medal against Russia’s Saadat Abdullaeva.
Ones to watch
Philippines’ China Open Tournament winner Nesthy Petecio joined their national squad in 2009 at the age of 17, and following five years of experience at international level she was able to reach the finals in an AIBA event.
The 22-year-old Featherweight class (57 kg) boxer eliminated the defending champion, Tiara Brown of the United States in the semi-finals, and her gold medal opponent was also a star rival, Russia’s EUBC European Women’s Continental Champion Zinaida Dobrynina.
Russia’s Dobrynina tried to prevent the attacks of the quick Filipino boxer in the opening round, which meant that Petecio’s attacks were stifled in the early part of the fight.
Despite some clever adjustments from the Asian athlete, the Russian boxer kept the control, which was enough to get the gold medal.
Both athletes look set to be gold medal contenders for years to come.
Stat/Fact of the day
Katie Taylor secured her fifth title in the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, and joins India’s Mary Kom who also won the same number of golds in the event between 2002 and 2010.
Bulgaria and Kazakhstan achieved their first ever gold medals in the history of the Championships, while unexpectedly Panama also did the same following Atheyna Bylon’s incredible performance in Korea.
Netherlands claimed a medal in the last edition of the Championships in Qinhuangdao, and Nouchka Fontijn was able to continue that run in Jeju.
Japan’s 19-year-old Madoka Wada became the youngest medallist of the 8th edition of the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Korea, and the host of the Championships also bagged its first ever medal.
Quote of the day
“It is an absolute privilege to equal that record of five World Championships titles, and I thank God for another great victory. I am absolutely delighted. It was such a tight contest, every round was very close and tricky. The tactics from my dad and Zuar Antia were spot on again. Every Championships is so hard to win and so hard to defend,” said Ireland’s Katie Taylor following her victory.
Results of the finals
- 48 kg: Nazym Kyzaybay KAZ – Shamjetsabam Sarjubala Devi IND 3:0
- 51 kg: Marlen Esparza USA – Lisa Whiteside ENG 2:1
- 54 kg: Stanimira Petrova BUL – Marzia Davide ITA 2:0
- 57 kg: Zinaida Dobrynina RUS – Nesthy Petecio PHI 2:0
- 60 kg: Katie Taylor IRL – Yana Alekseevna AZE 3:0
- 64 kg: Anastasia Beliakova, RUS – Sandy Ryan ENG 3:0
- 69 kg: Atheyna Bylon PAN – Saadat Abdullaeva RUS 2:1
- 75 kg: Claressa Shields USA – Li Qian CHN 3:0
- 81 kg: Yang Xiaoli CHN – Saweety Boora IND 3:0
- +81 kg: Zenfira Magomedaliyeva RUS – Lazzat Kungeybayeva KAZ 3:0
Upcoming AIBA Women’s World Championships in 2016
The next ninth edition of the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships will be the qualifying competition for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and is scheduled to take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
After final day of the 8th Women’s World Championships in Jeju, Korea was completed, with two members of Team USA won their divisions, Marlen Esparza and Claressa Shields, and Irish lightweight star Katie Taylor continuing her domination of the women’s sport, congratulations came from the AIBA’s president, Dr. Wu.
Dr Wu said:
“The standard of competition here in Jeju has been magnificent, so our new World Champions can leave for home knowing that they are truly the best boxers in the world today.
Speaking after the finals, Dr Wu said: “Since its historic launch at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Women Boxing has become hugely popular all around the world – and this is conclusively demonstrated by the enormous wealth of talent that has competed here in Jeju.”
“The development of Women Boxing has been one of my top priorities ever since my election as President of AIBA. When we announced that Women boxers would compete at the London Olympics in 2012, many people doubted whether it would work. But instead, the Women Boxing competition proved to be one of the greatest successes of the entire Games.
“Now, just two years later, all multi-sports Games will have Women Boxing Competitions. And our intention is that Women Boxing will, in future, also be an integral part of both our new APB and WSB competitions.”
“The organization, as well as the setting of these 8th Women’s World Championships were superb. I am very grateful indeed for all the huge efforts that have gone into making sure the Championships ran smoothly. And I am very grateful to the Governor and the people of Jeju for the warm welcome they have extended to everyone coming to their beautiful island.”
In total, 280 competitors from 67 countries took part in the Championships in all of the 10 AIBA Women’s Elite weight categories. China, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Russia and the US each competed with the maximum number of 10 Women Boxers.
European boxers won 21 medals, Asian boxers 13 medals and six boxers won medals from the Americas. Russia dominated the medals table with five (including 3 champions) and China with four (with 1 champion) as well. Italy, Turkey and the US won three medals each; Azerbaijan, England, France, India, Kazakhstan and Thailand each won two medalists; and Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Panama, Philippines and Ukraine won one medal apiece.
