2009 Women's Continental Championships

Liz Leddy Wins Women’s Continental Championships Opener While Seniesa Estrada Drops Event Debut

The 2009 Women's Continental Championships moved into day two on Tuesday in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with two U.S. boxers stepping into the ring for preliminary round action. Team USA went 1-1 on the day with featherweight Liz Leddy (Portland, Maine) winning her international debut and bantamweight Seniesa Estrada (Los Angeles, Calif.) losing her preliminary round bout. 

Leddy faced off with Vivian Londono of Columbia in her preliminary round contest at the Abel Jimenez Parra Coliseum in Guayaquil. The American boxer took a slim lead after the opening round of action and pushed it to a 6-3 edge with two rounds remaining. She continued to build out her advantage over the final four minutes of boxing, holding Londono scoreless in the fourth to win an 11-5 final decision. 

Estrada's bout with Yanina Benavides of Argentina told a different tale. The Argentine boxer took the lead in the first round and refused to let it go in Estrada's event debut. Benavides enjoyed an 8-5 lead at the midway point of the bout and continued to extend it through the final two rounds, eventually winning a 15-5 decision over Estrada.   

Five U.S. boxers will compete in Wednesday's action with light flyweight Laura Ramirez (Bronx, N.Y.) battling Trinidad, flyweight Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas) facing Thais Pagan of Brazil, light welterweight Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) taking on the Dominican Republic, welterweight Andrecia Wasson (Center Line, Mich.) challenging Canada and middleweight Alyssa DeFazio (Peoria, Ariz.) boxing against Ecuador.

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). It is responsible for the selection and management of the United States Olympic Boxing Team, and for the governance and oversight of USA Boxing's national organization of 38,000 members, 1,400 individual boxing clubs, and 1,600 sanctioned events annually.