Six of the US boxers who headed to Astana will be competing in the quarterfinals of the 2016 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships on Tuesday after two more advanced in the final day of preliminaries on Monday. Marlen Esparza in the 45-48kg division and Shadasia Green in the +81kg division had yet to compete until Monday and needed only one win to reach the quarterfinals. Both did so easily with 3-0 sweeps, Esparza over Korea’s Chorong Bak and Green over Romania’s Elena Turcin. Things didn’t go as well for 19-year-old Jajaira Gonzalez in the 64kg division as she lost 3-0 to China’s Wenlu Yang with each judge scoring it 39-37 to the Chinese boxer. Finally the Olympic hopes came to an end for Virginia Fuchs as Canada’s Mandy Bujold was eliminated and will use her Olympic qualifying spot from the Americas qualifier.

Joining Green and Esparza in the quarterfinals are 2012 gold medalist Claressa Shields in the 75kg division, 2015 Golden Gloves champion Christina Cruz in the 54kg division, Naomi Graham in the 69k division, and Franchon Crews in the 81kg division.

For reference the US won three medals, two gold and a bronze, at the last world championships in 2014. All of the weight classes will have quarterfinals on Tuesday with a day off Wednesday before Thursday’s semifinals.

Previous 2016 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Saturday Update
Sunday Update

Five US boxers entered the ring to continue their preliminary round competition on Sunday and all but one earned berths in the quarterfinals. 2012 gold medalist Claressa Shields won her second bout in the 75kg division, this time dispatching Uzbekistan’s Nafisakhon Askarova 3-0 with all the judges scoring it a sweep for Shields. 2015 Golden Gloves champion Christina Cruz in the 54kg division also swept her bout, though each judge had it 39-37 over Helina Bruyevich of Belarus. Naomi Graham and Ukraine’s Mariia Bova Badulina had a bout where ever judge saw it 39-37, but not all in the same direction. Graham moved on in the 69k division with two of the judges seeing it her way. Franchon Crews swept Italy’s Flavia Severin in the 81kg division to become the fourth American to reach the quarterfinals. The only loser on the day was Stalacia Leggett in the 57kg division as she came out on the wrong end of a bout with Italy’s Alessia Mesiano where all three judges scored it 38-38 but preferred Mesiano as the winner.

On Monday 19-year-old Jajaira Gonzalez in the 64kg division returns to the ring while Marlen Esparza in the 45-48kg division and Shadasia Green in the +81kg division have their first bouts. We will also be keeping an eye on Canada’s Mandy Bujold who must win twice more to grab an Olympic berth for Virginia Fuchs

Monday will end the preliminaries and narrow the field in those weight classes to eight for Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

Previous 2016 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Saturday Update

It’s a two-peat for Pablo Ramirez in the 108lb division at the Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions as the Texan who was 2015’s Golden Boy has his second straight title. Ramirez took care of Joseph Ortiz of Florida in the final but this was no walkover, a 3-2 decision for the defending champion. After finishing third earlier this year at the Olympic Boxing Trials it seems quite possible Ramirez will be headed to a pro career after this title. It’d be a long four year wait as an amateur to try and qualify for the 2020 Olympics and who knows what boxing in the Olympics will even look like in four years with professional boxers a potential wild card.

Sardius Simmons of Michigan had lost the 201lb final in 2015 and was a more comfortable winner over Marquise Williams of New York by a score of 4-1. Simmons is another good young prospect having reached back-to-back finals and like Ramirez will need to think about where he wants his career to go from here.

The women’s golden gloves tournament is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from July 5th-9th.

Previous 2016 Golden Gloves Coverage:
Preview
Tuesday Update
Wednesday Update
Thursday Update
Friday Update

After five wins to start the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan the US boxers finally tasted defeat. 2016 Olympian Mikaela Mayer didn’t need to keep winning to reach Rio thanks to her win in the Americas qualifying tournament but will surely be disappointed by being eliminated this early. Mayer lost 3-0 to China’s Junhua Yin, an Olympic qualifier from the Asian tournament. All three judges had it 39-37. Virginia Fuchs lost to Azerbaijan’s Anna Alimardanova 2-0 after one judge saw it a tie but the other two had it 39-37 against Fuchs. For Fuchs this loss may end her chances of qualifying for the Olympics. She now needs Canada’s Mandy Bujold to advance to the semifinals and earn one of the global qualifying spots and pass the second Americas qualifying spot on to Fuchs, who finished third in that tournament. Bujold is the third seed here and is now in the round of 16.

Sunday will be the busiest day yet for Americans as five will take the ring. 2012 gold medalist Claressa Shields has her second bout in the 75kg division as does Stalacia Leggett in the 57kg division. 2015 Golden Gloves champion Christina Cruz in the 54kg division,  Naomi Graham in the 69k division, and Franchon Crews in the 81kg division will have their first bouts.

19-year-old Jajaira Gonzalez in the 64kg division has the day off while Marlen Esparza in the 45-48kg division and Shadasia Green in the +81kg division, are still waiting for their first bouts.

Preliminaries continue Sunday and run through Monday to narrow the field in each weight class to eight for Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

Previous 2016 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update

The two men remaining in the 2016 Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions who were hoping to reach the final for the second straight year have certainly done so in style. Both Sardius Simmons of Michigan and 2015 Golden Boy Pablo Ramirez reached the final without losing a single point so far. Simmons defeated Cyrus Williams of Florida to reach the 201lb final where he will face Marquise Williams of New York. Ramirez dispatched Cederick Thomas of Iowa and will now face Joseph Ortiz of Florida as he goes for back-to-back 108lb titles in Saturday night’s final.

Previous 2016 Golden Gloves Coverage:
Preview
Tuesday Update
Wednesday Update
Thursday Update
Friday Update

The US continued their good start to the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan with three more victories on Friday. 2012 gold medalist Claressa Shields in the 75kg division competed in the evening and cruised to victory getting a TKO of her opponent Sarah Scheurich of Germany at the 2nd minute of the 4th round, already ahead big on the judges scorecards. Earlier in the day Stalacia Leggett in the 57kg division had a really interesting bout with Chinese Taipei’s Hsiao-Wen Huang. One judge scored the fight a clean four round sweep for Huang while another had it tied. The third just scored it 39-37, but for Leggett. The judge that had it tied would determine the winner and had Leggett as the preferred winner, giving her the victory. Not real common you win a bout in which one judge had it a sweep for your opponent. 19-year-old Jajaira Gonzalez didn’t need any judges at all as she scored a TKO at 1:43 of the 3rd round.

Saturday will be the second bouts for Virginia Fuchs in the 51kg division and Mikaela Mayer in the 60kg division. The other five US boxers, Marlen Esparza in the 45-48kg division, 2015 Golden Gloves champion Christina Cruz in the 54kg division,  Naomi Graham in the 69k division, Franchon Crews in the 81kg division, and Shadasia Green in the +81kg division, are still waiting for their first bouts as they are competing in divisions that have smaller numbers of boxers and didn’t need as many preliminary bouts.

Preliminaries continue Saturday and run through Monday to narrow the field in each weight class to eight for Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

Previous 2016 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update

Lawrence King of Buffalo became the first of the three 2015 finalists competing in the 2016 Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions to get knocked out of the competition on Thursday. Matched with Atif Oberlton of Pennsylvania King was involved in his third straight 5-0 match but this time he was on the wrong end of things and was eliminate from the 178lb division. Things continue to go smoothly however for the other two 2015 finalists as they scored 5-0 wins to reach the final four of their divisions. Sardius Simmons of Michigan defeated Cedric Washington of Texas in the 201lb division while 2015 Golden Boy Pablo Ramirez of Texas was victorious over Saul Gomez of Nevada in the 108lb division.

The competition wraps up with the semifinals on Friday and the finals on Saturday.

Previous 2016 Golden Gloves Coverage:
Preview
Tuesday Update
Wednesday Update

The US is off to a good start in their quest to qualify three Olympians at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan as the two boxers they had going on Thursday each advanced in weight classes that will compete in the Olympics. In the 51kg weight class is Virginia Fuchs was a strong winner defeating Brazil’s Grazieli Jesus De Sousa 3-0 with all three judges scoring it 40-36. Things were a lot tighter in the match between Mikaela Mayer and Esra Yildiz of Turkey in the 60kg division. Two of the three judges scored it 38-38 but preferred Mayer as the winner with the third narrowly awarding the match on points to Mayer 39-37. Both Fuchs and Mayer will have Friday off before competing again on Saturday.

Getting underway on Friday will be Stalacia Leggett in the 57kg division, 19-year-old Jajaira Gonzalez in the 64kg division, and 2012 gold medalist Claressa Shields in the 75kg division.

Preliminaries continue Friday and run through Monday to narrow the field in each weight class to eight for Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

Previous 2016 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships Coverage:
Preview

The three 2015 finalists competing in the 2016 Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions all excelled on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals. All three scored 5-0 wins to continue their quest to reach Saturday’s final. Lawrence King of Buffalo, took out Edel Gomez of Omaha in the 178lb division while Sardius Simmons of Michigan dispatched Preston Eagletail of the Upper Midwest in the 201lb division. 2015 Golden Boy Pablo Ramirez of Texas opened his title defense with a win over Felix Parrilla of New England in the 108lb division.

Thursday is the quarterfinals with the semifinals on Friday and the finals on Saturday.

Previous 2016 Golden Gloves Coverage:
Preview
Tuesday Update

It’s a vitally important week ahead in Astana, Kazakhstan as the best amateur women’s boxers in the world will be competing for the title of World Champion and in three weight classes, a spot in the Olympics. The US team of ten includes two boxers returning from the 2012 Olympic team. Claressa Shields is of course the favorite in the 75kg division where she won gold as a 17-year-old while Marlen Esparza will be competing in the 45-48kg division instead of the 51kg division where she won bronze in London. The 45-48kg division is not an Olympic weight class so she will not be contesting a spot in Rio, the US competitor in the 51kg weight class is Virginia Fuchs. The other American going for a spot in Rio will be Mikaela Mayer in the 60kg division.

The other six entrants for the US are 2015 Golden Gloves champion Christina Cruz in the 54kg division, Stalacia Leggett in the 57kg division, 19-year-old Jajaira Gonzalez in the 64kg division, Naomi Graham in the 69k division, Franchon Crews in the 81kg division, and Shadasia Green in the +81kg division.

In the three Olympic weight classes (51kg, 60kg, 75kg) the four semifinalists will earn Olympic berths.

Preliminaries starting Thursday and running through Monday will narrow the field in each weight class to eight for Tuesday’s quarterfinals. The two US boxers competing on the first day will both be in weight classes with Olympic spots available, Virginia Fuchs and Mikaela Mayer.