(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – Team USA bounced back from its first loss of the tournament with two convincing wins on Saturday at the 2011 AIBA Men’s World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. Lightweight Jose Ramirez (Avenal, Calif.) and middleweight Jesse Hart (Philadelphia, Pa.) both made their World Championships debuts on Saturday, but you wouldn’t know it by their commanding performances in the ring.
Ramirez stepped through the ropes first, and the former Starbucks barista and two-time U.S. National Champion battled Armenia’s Vladimir Sarukhanyan in lightweight action. The first round of the bout was close with Ramirez taking a slim 6-5 lead. Yet Ramirez began to pull away in the second, grabbing a 13-9 advantage as the final round began. Ramirez didn’t leave any room for doubt in the third, outscoring Sarukhanyan by a 9-3 margin to win a 22-12 final decision. Ramirez will face a stiff test in his next bout on Monday when he battles 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist and reigning World Champion Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine.
Hart looked to continue the domination he enjoyed at the recent Olympic Trials in his middleweight bout with Qatar’s Hzam Nbah, and he accomplished his goal. Hart held a 5-2 lead after the first, and that’s the closest Nbah would get in the three round contest. The towering Hart began peppering Nbah with shots in the second, moving out to a 14-3 after two rounds of action. He continued his onslaught in the third, before the referee called a halt to the bout in the third round with Hart holding a 21-4 lead. The stoppage victory moves Hart on to a second round contest with Tajikistan’s Sobirjon Nazarov.
Four U.S. boxers will take the ring on Sunday as two-time Olympian and 2007 World Champion Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) and super heavyweight Lenroy “Cam” Thompson (Lenexa, Kansas) both make their event debuts. Warren will open competition with a flyweight showdown with Ukraine’s Georgy Chygayev while Thompson faces off with Australia’s Alexey Muhkin in super heavyweight action.
Welterweight Errol Spence (Desoto, Texas) and light heavyweight Marcus Browne (Staten Island, N.Y.) will both take the ring following impressive opening round wins earlier in the competition. Browne introduced himself to the international scene with a stoppage victory in the opening seconds of his first World Championships bout against Japan. He will face Georgia’s Levan Guledani in his second bout of the tournament on Sunday in the 2 p.m. session (5 a.m. ET/ 2 a.m. PT). Spence won a 28-10 decision in his first round bout and is back for a second contest against Canada’s Clayton Custio, where he will join Thompson in the 7 p.m. session (10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT). Warren will open competition for Team USA as he boxes in the 11 a.m. (2 a.m. ET/11 p.m. PT) session.
USA Boxing National Coach Joe Zanders (Long Beach, Calif.), coaches Ronald Simms (Stafford, Va.) and Manny Robles (Los Angeles, Calif.), technical advisor Ken Porter (Akron, Ohio), and Team Manager Ken Buffington (Marshalltown, Iowa) are leading the United States team in Baku.
The 2011 World Championships are the first international qualifying tournament for the 2012 Olympic Games, and the light flyweight through light heavyweight boxers must place in top ten to qualify for London while the heavyweight and super heavyweight competitors need to place in the top six.
For the full brackets for all 10 weight classes and the most up-to-date results, go to http://www.aiba.org/en-US/2011/2011WorldBoxingChampionships.aspx. AIBA will show live scoring on its website, www.aiba.org throughout the tournament and will start webcasting all the bouts on October 4 at www.aibaboxing.tv. For more information on Team USA, go to www.usaboxing.org. USA Boxing will tweet all the American results as they happen @usaboxing.
The first AIBA Men’s World Championships were held in 1974 in Havana, Cuba. The event, which consistently showcases the best boxers in the world, is held every two years.
U.S. Results
132 lbs: Jose Ramirez, Avenal, Calif./USA dec. Vladimir Sarukhanyan, ARM, 22-12
165 lbs: Jesse Hart, Philadelphia, Pa./USA stopped Hzan Nabah, QAT, RSC-3
