(JAN 18) As the 2014 U.S Women’s Nationals in Spokane, Wash. approach (January 20th-25th), confirmation of the ever increasing strength of women’s boxing in the United States comes with
publication by the ‘amateur’ sport’s governing body, A.I.B.A, of the January 2014 World Rankings list (based on tournaments up to end of December). There are nine Team U.S boxers in the world’s top

10 taking into account all weight divisions and not just the three Olympic categories.

Two of the nine are ranked no.1 in the world, Tiara Brown at 57kg and Mikaela Mayer at 64kg. Only weight division to miss out is 60kg where reigning national champion Queen Underwood is ranked at no.27 so since Mayer has entered the U.S Nationals at 60kg again this year, the eyes of not only those in the United States but of the rest of the world will very much focus on whether or not Mayer can bring the ‘Queen’s reign’ to an end - in Spokane.

WBAN.com will of course, as always, bring you all the news from Spokane throughout the week and for viewers worldwide there is also the opportunity to watch online via PPV. Details at end of this piece.

There are two U.S boxers at no 1, Tiara Brown at 57kg and Mikaela Mayer at 64kg and 3 more ranked no. 2 namely Raquel Miller (69kg), Claressa Shields (75kg) and Franchon Crews at 81kg. Christina Cruz slots in at no 3 in the 54kg charts, Marlen Esparza at 4 in 51kg whilst at no 9 in the 45-48kg charts is Alex Love. Victoria Perez ranks no.10 in the 81kg+ category.

Ireland’s Olympic Gold medallist, Katie Taylor begins a record breaking 8th successive year as no.1 at 60kg but surprisingly perhaps both the other Gold medallists from London 2012, Claressa Shields and Nicola Adams are ranked at no 2 in their respective divisions. These as with all other decisions are based on the – some would say very complicated – ratings system used.

As an example at 60kg very surprisingly Tajikistan’s’ Mavzuna Chorieva is ranked above Russian Silver medallist, Sofya Ochigava whom she has never defeated.

Canada’s Mary Spencer who has topped the 75kg rankings for so long is down to no.8 whilst as mentioned earlier, Queen Underwood is at a lowly 27 of the 27 boxers rated and therefore yet another reason why in Spokane she will be anxious to prove that she is still ‘Queen of the Ring’ and not ‘a light of other days’.

London 2012 Gold medallist at 51kg, England’s Nicola Adams is ranked no.2 behind China’s Cancan Ren, whom she defeated on finals day in London – Claressa Shields is another at no. 2 – behind China’s Jinzi Li.

To give you a better understanding of how these decisions are arrived at, here is the “official” explanation from AIBA.org


“WORLD RANKING POINTS ALLOCATION (Men and Women)

1.1. The World Ranking points for each Boxer are accumulated over a two (2) year “rolling” period.

1.2. The World Ranking points will be awarded for each competition and maintained in full for four (4) competitions.

1.3. From the 5th competition onwards (up to a maximum of 7 competitions), any World Ranking point awarded will be decreased by 25% per competition.

1.4. The Official AIBA World Ranking is issued after each competition counting into the ranking system.

1.5. Every Boxer participating in a 3-Star Competition as listed in Appendix B, except in all Qualifying

Competitions for the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games, will be ranked within the competition and will gain points depending on final result and position.

1.6. World Ranking points will be allocated as follow for the listed Competitions:

• Olympic Games

• World Championships

• Continental Championships

• AIBA 3-Star Competitions

Ranking Competitions Ranking points to earn for reaching the following place

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th

Olympic Games 1300 900 800 750 600 550 500 450 100 100

World Championships 1200 800 700 650 500 450 400 350 100 90

Continental

Championships

800 600 500 450 300 250 200 150 0 0

AIBA 3-Star

Competitions

600 400 300 250 200 150 100 80 0 0

(*) The above listed ranking points will be adjusted for the Continental Championships based on the number of

Boxers in each Weight Category as follow:

• 7 Boxers or less: 50% deduction from above listed points

• 8 to 11 Boxers: 30% deduction from above listed points

• 12 Boxers or more: No deduction


1.7. A disqualified Boxer for a violation of the AIBA Disciplinary Code including for anti-doping issues will not be

awarded with any ranking point” .

And finally …..