(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – Just over a year after the IOC decision to add women’s boxing to the 2012 Olympic Games, the world’s top female boxers will convene in Bridgetown, Barbados for the 2010 AIBA Women’s World Championships. The 2010 event, which will be contested September 9-18, will be the sixth edition of the competition and the first since the IOC announcement. The United States hosted the first Women’s World Championships in Scranton, Pa., in 2001.
The United States squad boasts all ten reigning national champions from the recent USA Boxing National Championships. In addition to national success, four of the boxers representing the United States in Barbados have also enjoyed strong victories at the international level. Five-time national champion Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas) will be competing for the first time internationally at the new Olympic flyweight division, but she already owns international hardware at the light flyweight class. Esparza claimed a bronze medal in her first world championships in 2006 as well as taking gold at the 2008 Pan American Championships. Multi-time national champion Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) made a change in weight classes in 2010 as well, moving to the new Olympic lightweight division after both national and international success at the light welterweight class. A gold medalist in the 2009 Women’s Continental Championships, Underwood will be competing in her second world championships event and first at the lightweight division. Light heavyweight Tyler Lord-Wilder (Lansing, Mich.) is returning to the international scene following a five-year layoff. She will vie for her second World Championships medal in Barbados after claiming bronze in the 2005 edition in Russia. Welterweight Andrecia Wasson (Centerline, Mich.) enjoyed a strong international debut at the 2009 Women’s Continental Championships, taking a silver medal. She will look to return to the medal platform in her first World Championships in Barbados.
The six boxers rounding out the squad will be light flyweight Jessica Ponce (Napa, Calif.), bantamweight Lauren Fisher (Indiana, Pa.), featherweight Jody-Ann Weller (Pomona, N.Y.), light welterweight Cashmere Jackson (Cleveland, Ohio), middleweight Tiffanie Hearn (Louisville, Ky.), and heavyweight Denise Rico (Los Angeles, Calif.) The team will be led by two-time Olympic coach Basheer Abdullah (Fort Carson, Colo.), Bonnie Canino (Hollywood, Fla.) and Bruce Kawano (Pearl City, Hawaii). Dr. Keith Nord (Memphis, Tenn.) will join the squad as the team physician.
Three women’s weight classes will be contested in the 2012 Olympics in London. The three Olympic weight divisions will be flyweight (112 lbs), lightweight (132 lbs) and middleweight (165 lbs).
Prior to traveling to Barbados for the event, the United States squad will take part in a preparatory training camp with the Great Britain team at Canino’s Karate & Boxing Studio in Dania, Fla., from August 28- September 5.
All of the international teams are scheduled to arrive in Barbados on September 6 with competition beginning on September 9. Preliminary round action will run from September 9-14 with quarterfinal action taking place on September 15. Following a rest day on September 16, semifinal action will be contested on September 17 and the event will conclude with final round action on September 18. All of the tournament action will take place at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Bridgetown, Barbados.
2010 Women’s World Championships Team
106 lbs: Jessica Ponce, Napa, Calif.
112 lbs: Marlen Esparza, Houston, Texas
119 lbs: Lauren Fisher, Indiana, Pa.
125 lbs: Jody Ann Weller, Pomona, N.Y.
132 lbs: Queen Underwood, Seattle, Wash.
141 lbs: Cashmere Jackson, Cleveland, Ohio
152 lbs: Andrecia Wasson, Centerline, Mich.
165 lbs: Tiffanie Hearn, Louisville, Ky.
178 lbs: Tyler Lord-Wilder, Lansing, Mich.
178+ lbs: Denise Rico, Los Angeles, Calif.
Coach: Basheer Abdullah, Fort Carson, Colo.
Coach: Bonnie Canino, Hollywood, Fla.
Coach: Bruce Kawano, Pearl City, Hawaii
Physician: Dr. Keith Nord, Memphis, Tenn.
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)