Press Release: Flyweight Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) took home the gold in a gutsy performance on Saturday at the 2007 World Championships in Chicago, Ill. Warren won a 13-9 decision over Thailand’s Somjit Jongjohor despite having his tooth knocked out with a Jongjohor head-butt in the second round.
The bout began slowly with each boxer taking a defensive stance and looking for an opening, and Warren held a slim 2-1 lead at the end of the first. The paced quickened in the second as Warren jumped out to a quick start, but was slowed slightly in the middle of the round due to the pain from the head-butt. Yet he battled through in the second half of the round, dropping Jongjohor to the canvas en route to a 10-4 lead at the midway point in the bout. Jongjohor began to chase the American boxer in the third, but Warren managed to use his movement and angles to keep the Thai boxer at bay and held an 11-7 advantage with one round remaining. He continued to utilize strong defense and athleticism to avoid Jongjohor and went on to win the 13-9 final decision and his first world championship.
“My coaches Mike Stafford and Dan Campbell were telling me to keep coming forward and use my jab because he was tall,” Warren said. “He had a reach over me and I’m a small boxer with short arms so I had to work my way inside. My coaches were telling me to work the jab, and use my speed and it didn’t fail.”
Warren becomes the first U.S. boxer since 1999 to win a world championship. Welterweight Demetrius Andrade (Providence, R.I.) will face Non Boonjumnong of Thailand later in the session.
“It’s a wonderful feeling, its another step to Beijing,” Warren said. “I’m a World gold medalist and now I’ve got to be the Olympic gold medalist.”
Rau’shee Warren quotes:
“He head-butted me, you can see the cut on his head. It chipped my tooth.”
“A+, I performed well, I protected myself in the ring and I came out with the gold so its an A+. They better watch it, the young American team is coming.”
“It was a counter hook, I caught him coming in off balance. It was really just a punch to keep him off me. I didn’t know it was going to knock him down, but once I knocked him down I wanted to put the pressure on him. My coaches told me to pick my shots and stay on the outside.”
“It was another thing reminding me of what the Olympic will be like. This is just another step. I can’t be thinking to far but I qualified, I’m going to Beijing and now I’m a world champion. I can say that I’m number one in the world, not number two or three and they have to watch out for me.”
“I don’t think I eased up in the last two rounds, everybody that competed in this tournament is a great boxer. He’s also a great boxer, I just had to pace myself in the ring and protect my lead.”
“I’m going to put the medal around my mother’s neck, just like the gold medal in Beijing.”
“You just have to score the punches and be first, everything can be fair. Gold medal, here it is.”
