OXNARD PAL BOXING

(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – With the Olympic debut of women’s boxing less than two years away, 22 of the top female boxers in the world will compete in the first-ever Women’s International Dual Series, November 16-20, in Oxnard, Calif. The unique international event will provide valuable competition experience for female athletes from the six participating nations. Four U.S. squads will face off with teams from Hungary and Poland as well as a combined team from Canada and Spain in four days of friendly dual competitions at the Oxnard PAL Gym. The boxers will all compete in the three women’s Olympic weight divisions of flyweight (112 lbs), lightweight (132 lbs) and middleweight (165 lbs), providing a rare Olympic preview event for women’s boxing.

"USA Boxing is excited to work with the city of Oxnard and the Oxnard PAL to put on another top-notch amateur boxing event," USA Boxing Interim Executive Director Anthony Bartkowski said. "With women's boxing making its Olympic debut at the 2012 Olympic Games, creating international competition opportunities for our elite women is critical. USA Boxing Women's Task Force Chair and AIBA Women's Commission Member Christy Halbert and her team have done a great job in putting together a competition that will create a valuable competitive experience for our athletes and the international boxers in attendance."

The city of Oxnard has hosted numerous major amateur boxing events over the past several years, including the National PAL Championships from 2005 to 2008, including a U.S. Olympic Team Trials qualifying event in 2006. “The Oxnard Convention & Visitors Bureau welcomes all of the competitors, coaches, team officials and administrators and referees to our beautiful city,” Oxnard CVB CEO Janet Sederquist said.  “We are excited to partner with the Oxnard PAL and USA Boxing to host an event of this magnitude in Oxnard and to be able to showcase Oxnard to visitors traveling from other countries.”

Six world championships medalists will showcase their skills in Oxnard, including three from the United States. Four-time national champion and 2010 Women’s World Championships lightweight bronze medalist Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) will take her talents to Southern California as will 2008 World Championships bronze medalists Cynthia Moreno (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Tiffanie Hearn (Louisville, Ky.). The trio will be joined by 2010 National PAL Champions Christina Cruz (New York, N.Y.) and Stephanie Han (El Paso, Texas), former USA Boxing National Champions Alyssa DeFazio (Newburgh, N.Y.) and Caroline Barry (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and 2010 USA Boxing National Championships silver medalists Tyrieshia Douglas (Baltimore, Md.) and Lisbet Vargas (Portland, Ore.). USA Boxing National championships semifinalists Alex Love (Monroe, Wash.) and Kalita Marsh (Smithfield, N.C.) and 2010 National PAL Championships silver medalist Mikaela Mayer (Crest Hills, Calif.) will complete the U.S. roster of athletes.

Three world championships medalists from the visiting teams will compete in Oxnard as well, including two-time Hungarian World Champion Maria Kovacs and 2008 Polish World Champion Karolina Michalczuk. Kovacs has moved down to the middleweight division following two world championships at the heavyweight class in the hopes of qualifying for her first Olympic Games in 2012. She competed in the inaugural Women’s World Championships in 2001, losing to American Devonne Canady in the finals of the heavyweight division. Michaelczuk is a multi-time World Championships medalist, taking silver in 2006 and bronze in 2010 in addition to her bantamweight world title in 2008. She has dropped to flyweight class after winning her international hardware at the bantamweight division.

All of the participants in the Women’s International Dual Series will arrive in Oxnard on Monday, November 15, and enjoy a Welcome Reception on their first night in Southern California. The official event press conference will take place at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, November 16 at 24 Hour Fitness, and all of the delegations will attend the Oxnard Rising Stars Amateur Boxing Show at 6 p.m. at the Oxnard PAL. Dual competition will begin on Wednesday with boxing action starting at 6 p.m. every night through Saturday, November 20 at the Oxnard PAL Gym.

Women’s International Dual Series tickets are only $10 per session for adults, $5 for children (ages 6-17), and a special ringside seat is available for purchase for $20. Kids five and under will be admitted free of charge to the event. Tickets can be purchased in advance through the Oxnard PAL website at www.oxnardpalboxing.com, via phone at (805) 385-8230, or in person at PAL office on 350 S. K Street, Oxnard, CA, 93030.

The Women’s International Dual Series is taking place just two months after the largest Women’s World Championships in history with over 300 boxers from 75 countries vying for gold in Bridgetown, Barbados. The sport has grown throughout the world over the past decade following the first-ever Women’s World Championships event in 2001 in Scranton, Pa. The IOC made the historic decision to add women’s boxing to the Olympic Games in August of 2009 and 36 women in three different weight divisions will vie for Olympic gold at the 2012 Olympic Games in London with Olympic qualifying tentatively slated to begin in early 2012.