Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Olympic boxing field set after all-important draw

boxer underwood

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A tattoo that reads “Queen” is seen on the right arm of United States’ 60-kg lightweight boxer Queen Underwood during a practice session at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 26, 2012, in London.

The three Americans in the first Olympic women's boxing tournament have learned how fickle the draw can be.

While flyweight Marlen Esparza and middleweight Claressa Shields both drew first-round byes Friday, lightweight Queen Underwood was assigned one of the toughest paths to gold imaginable.

Underwood must fight British contender Natasha Jonas in the first round. The winner will meet Ireland's Katie Taylor, the top-ranked lightweight thought to be the best female boxer at the Olympics.

The rest of the 286 fighters in the field also learned their first-round fates during the long proceedings at ExCel, the multisport venue hosting the boxing tournaments. Most of the world's top-ranked fighters received byes.

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