(CHICAGO, ILL.) – Seventeen-year-old light welterweight Javier Molina (Commerce, Calif.) continued his outstanding performance at the 2007 World Championships in Chicago, Ill., defeating 2005 World Championships bronze medalist Emil Maharramov of Azerbaijan, 27-10, on Friday afternoon..
Despite Maharramov’s extensive experience, Molina took control of the bout from the start, taking the first lead and out-boxing his opponent. Molina enjoyed a 6-1 lead after the first, but it was the second round where he truly made his mark. The American boxer showered Maharramov with crisp, sharp punches in combination, building a convincing 19-5 advantage at the halfway point in the bout. He extended his lead to 16 in the third round but Maharramov held off the stoppage, trying to rough-house the younger Molina. Despite Maharramov’s tactics, Molina boasted a 23-9 lead after three rounds. He evaded the wild Maharramov’s punches in the fourth, using movement to avoid the Azerbaijani boxer. Molina went on to win a 27-10 final decision, and now stands one win away from qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Games.
“I was trying to turn him and come back with some punches when he was off balance,” Molina said. “I knew that if I got up on points early in the bout, that he would start getting wild because I saw some of his fights before. I just tried to do my best to get the lead and to keep it up in the end.”
Four U.S. boxers will take ring at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago on Saturday with flyweight Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) facing Avila Juarez Braulio of Mexico; featherweight Raynell Williams (Cleveland, Ohio) battling Mazat Ospanov of Kazakhstan; middleweight Shawn Estrada (E. Los Angeles, Calif.) taking on Ryota Murata of Japan; and super heavyweight Michael Hunter (Las Vegas, Nev.) closing the day in a contest with Turkey’s Kurban Gunebakan.
Javier Molina quotes
“I’ve seen some other fights of his and he would catch people with wild punches, but I knew if I stayed relaxed and focused and I didn’t get wild with him that I would be able to make him miss.”
“I knew he was a bronze medalist but I saw him fight a guy from Kazakhstan, and the guy beat him by 20 points. The guy from Kazakhstan just started moving on him and he just started getting wild.”
“So far this has been going great, I’m going to try to keep it going and get that gold medal.”
“I brought some homework in all my classes here, pre-calculus, economics, all my classes. I have a lot of schoolwork to do this weekend.”
“To me education is really important, I have boxing and I love to do that, but I have to stick to my studies. I need my education so I have something to fall back on. I have a 3.6 GPA. I just have to work harder to balance school and boxing, but I have to sacrifice to do what I love. I’m sure it will all pay off in the end if I stayed focused and do all my work.”
“At Palmer High School in Colorado, they all help me with my school work. They all know what’s going on and that I’m pretty busy so they give me all my work so I can turn it in when I get back. I’m the new kid at school, but I’m making a lot of friends already.”
U.S. Result
141 lbs/64 kg: Javier Molina, Commerce, Calif./USA dec. Emil Maharramov, AZE, 27-10
Gary Russell, Jr. Dominates his Opponent at the 2007 World Championships in Chicago
(CHICAGO, ILL.) – Bantamweight Gary Russell, Jr. (Capitol Heights, Md.) opened Friday’s World Championship action, needing only three minutes to stop Israel’s Peter Moyshenzon. Russell’s victory sets up a third round bout with fellow 2005 bronze medalist Ali Hallab of France on Tuesday, October 30.
Russell took control immediately, showcasing his patented speed and power, and dropping Moyshenzon to the canvas with a hook only 30 seconds into the bout. Russell kept the pressure on his moving opponent; giving him a second standing eight count late in the first. He took a commanding 11-1 edge into the second round of action. The 19-year-old peppered Moyshenzon with left hands throughout the first minute of the second round, building up a 21-1 advantage at the 1:03 mark to take the stoppage victory.
“I saw that he was kind of tall, he was a little bit taller than me so I just wanted to but the pressure on him. I wanted to put a little power on it and let him know that I was there,” Russell said. “I never knew the score, I tried something new today, I tried not to worry about the score and just compete, just box.”
Light welterweight Javier Molina (Commerce, Calif.) will battle Emil Maharramov of Azerbaijan in his second round contest in the 3 p.m. session.
Gary Russell, Jr. Quotes
“I had to get the first fight over, and it was my first fight competing since the Olympic Trials. I am just trying to work and stay focused.”
“I am trying to eat, he’s taking food of my table and I can’t let that happen.”
“It was never a psychological thing for me (dropping him so early). I prepared myself well, the whole team has prepared well, and we expect big things from each other. So we just try to work hard and I expect things like that.”
Having my father here was exciting, I heard Let’s Go G and I looked over and I see my father clapping, and I thought, yeah its got to down. I saw them sitting in the front row.”
“I know my left hand was going to be big because he’s an orthodox boxer, so it makes it a lot easier to connect with my left hand. Plus, I have a lot of speed and power so I tried to make it work to my advantage.”
“When you come in with a game plan, you have to stick to it unless your coaches tell you not to. Your coaches are basically your last line of defense. When you’re in the ring, you have to be able to be mentally skilled to see what changes to make in the ring. You can’t listen to your coaches until you get back into the corner. Then that’s when you might change up if your coaches tell you to.”
“In the second round, they told me to take off my power because they didn’t want me to hurt my hands.”
“Health is a concern for me, I’m sick right now, my throat’s real sore, I have a sinus infection and an ear infection.”
“I try not to let myself think about it (being close to qualifying), because when you start thinking about it, you start getting tense. You want to just be relaxed, the whole ride here, we were just having fun and joking. We are a team, we stick together and have everyone rooting for us and its definitely motivation.”
“I’m not sure if we’ve made believers out of anyone. First we have to represent ourselves, we want USA to be proud, that’s what we are trying to do.”
“”We all have unity, you can see it when we box, everyone’s here, everyone’s cheering for each other. So we’re pretty close.”
U,S. Result
119 lbs/54 kg: Gary Russell, Jr., Capitol Heights, Md./USA stopped Peter Moyshenzon, ISR, RSCO-3 (1:03