(CHICAGO, ILL.) – 2007 World Championships action moved into the seventh session on Thursday afternoon at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Ill. Lightweight Sadam Ali (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and welterweight Demetrius Andrade (Providence, R.I.) both notched victories in their World Championships debut to bring the U.S. win total to eight. Ali recorded a 25-17 final over Jose Pedraza of Puerto Rico and Andrade won a 22-11 decision over Georgia’s Kakahaber Jvania.

Ali stepped through the ropes first, and he didn’t receive a positive welcome as Pedraza came out of the gates quickly and grabbed the early momentum. Ali trailed by an 8-3 margin after a frenzied first round, but he began to climb his way back in the second. He chipped away at Pedraza’s lead, pulling the bout to 11-8 at the end of two. Yet the third round belonged to Ali, he needed only 30 seconds to pull the bout to a tie. He took the lead midway through the third and never relinquished his advantage, pressing the action and pulling away from Pedraza. Ali enjoyed an 18-13 lead as the fourth round began and kept up the pressure in the fourth, extending his lead to 25-17 at the sound of the final bell. Ali will face Hrachik Javakhyan of Armenia in his second bout on Sunday.

“I didn’t fight like I was supposed to, but I was down and I knew I had to get points so I just got in there and started scoring,” Ali said. “What I was doing (early) wasn’t working, I was getting hit with shots I wasn’t supposed to get hit with.”

Andrade’s bout got off to a slower start than his U.S. opponent with he and Jvania boxing to a 2-2 tie after the first two minutes of action. The American picked up the pace in the second round, pressing the action and scoring strong shots to take a 10-5 advantage at the halfway mark. He continued to control the bout through the final two rounds, despite the referee constantly calling the two boxers for infractions. Andrade dropped Jvania to the canvas in the final second of the third round, but he didn’t take his foot off the gas over the final two minutes. He went on to a 22-11 decision to advance to second round action where he will face Dmitrijs Sostaks of Latvia.

“I went in there with a boxing plan, but he was just a little too rough so I folded up and went inside,” Andrade said. “My plan was to jab and throw a straight left to the body, but every time I went to the body, he kept pushing my head down. I wasn’t trying to knock him out, if it comes, it comes, I just wanted to wear him down.”

Christopher Downs (Fort Carson, Colo.) will face off with Ismayl Sillakh of Ukraine in the session.

Sadam Ali Quotes

“I knew I was down in the first round, I wasn’t sure how many I was down by, but I knew that I was down.

I always come in confident, I knew I had to dig in, I knew I can change styles and that I can take a punch.

I always pick it up in the third round, I don’t know, but that’s where I get most of points usually. You just have to keep scoring, keep winning and go get that gold.

I was throwing my jab with an overhand right and a left hook, and I wanted to throw combinations so that the judges could see that I was scoring.

Demetrius Andrade Quotes

“I can’t control what the referee is doing, he’s going to call what he’s going to call and I am just there to box.”

“Defense is very important, without defense, you won’t win anything. Therefore I used good defense, I blocked most of his punches and everything he threw, I came off on.”

“I’m not surprised by the success the U.S. team has had, we trained hard and we expect everyone to win. Everything that we worked on at training camp at the Olympic Training Center has helped us here.”

“The energy was crazy, I looked to the corner and they were telling me to go, go, and that pushed me.“

“I don’t really like to have this kind of fight so early, but I will deal with whatever comes.”

U.S. Results

132 lbs/60 kg: Sadam Ali, Brooklyn, N.Y./USA dec. Jose Pedraza, PUR, 25-17

152 lbs/69 kg: Demetrius Andrade, Providence, R.I./USA dec. Kakahaber Jvania, GEO, 22-11

Returning Olympian Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) had a score to settle in his 2007 World Championships debut on Thursday in Chicago. Warren faced off with 2004 Olympian Tulashboy Doniyorov of Uzbekistan, in flyweight preliminary action, winning a 20-8 decision. Doniyorov was a familiar face to Warren, having defeated 2004 Olympic teammate and fellow Cincinnati boxer Ron Siler in the 2004 Olympic Games.

Doniyorov pulled out every roughhouse tactic in the book in their four round match-up, throwing elbows and forearms throughout the bout. It was the visiting boxer who held the first lead in the bout, but Warren grabbed a slim 4-3 lead at the end of the first. He picked up the pace in the second round, finding openings and using straight shots to take a 9-4 lead at the halfway mark. Warren found his rhythm in the third stanza, utilizing his speed and movement to land shots and evade Doniyorov’s punches and his efforts earned the 20-year-old a commanding 16-5 advantage at the end of three. The dirty tactics continued into the fourth as Doniyorov pulled Warren to the ground, but the American boxer kept his composure, going on to win the 20-8 final victory.

“That was rough, he was strong, he kept elbowing me and head-butting me; I was getting frustrated, but I just kept listening to my coach in the corner,” Warren said. “In the first round, I had to feel him out, that was my main purpose. They said he was a 2004 Olympian, but I told them rthat they had to worry about me. When I came out in the second round, I was trying to out-power him and show him I was strong. My coach, Mike Stafford, told me to use my speed, no power and just work. In the last round, he told me just not get hit, but as you could tell, it was a rough bout.”

Rau’shee Warren quotes

“This is boxing, nobody takes it easy in the ring. If they take it easy, they might as well kiss you. Every bout is going to be rough.”

“You have to thank plyometrics (for my stamina). Patrick (the USOC strength and conditioning coach) had us running, using a lot of speed, and doing a lot of drills to build our legs up so that when we got in the ring, we could use the circle drill and our movement. It was a rough bout for my first one, I would have rather that happened in the finals.”

“He fought Ron Siler in the Olympics and he beat Ron, one of the Cincinnati boys.  I didn’t get in the ring, thinking that he beat one of my boys; its going to be a tough fight. I just got in the ring with a game plan to fight hard.”

“You could see whose hand the referee pulled up, my hand. He has to go to another qualifier while I’m at home. I’m the returning Olympian, and I’m going to stay that way. I’m going to show the world what being an Olympian means.”

“Everyone who is here isn’t playing around, they came to fight and they are hungry just like I am.”

“This means a lot, if you don’t win this, you can’t go to the Olympics, you’ve got to go to another qualifier. My main focus is to qualify so I can go to Beijing. Right now, my focus is on Chicago.”

“I’m glad I had this fight today, it woke me up. My main plan was to throw straight punches and work off the jab. I wanted to move side-to-side and not back up because I was giving up points when I was backing up. I wanted to move side-to-side and use the circle drill like we do in the gym.”

U.S. Results

112 lbs/51 kg: Rau’shee Warren, Cincinnati, Ohio/USA dec. Tulashboy Doniyorov, UZB, 20-8