Accolades aplenty for USA standouts Andrea Medina, Lupe Gutierrez w/updates from Sofia, Bulgaria

Back on August 18, 2015, inside Chula Vista’s City Hall, the administration’s headquarters for San Diego County’s second largest city, all business came to a halt in order to acknowledge a young lady by the name of Andrea Medina. At that time, the ultra popular Mayor Mary Casillas Salas heaped high praise on this local athlete who was also an exceptional student plus student leader. That same young lady, now a student at SDSU, has her sights set on reaching an even higher goal, representing the U. S. at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Being that it is such a brutal, one on one sport, Medina has to be constantly on guard/cognizant that she’s just one punch away from having her bell rung, having her applecart turned over or worst yet, having her career end. In Boxing, no one is invincible. There’s always going to be that next opponent who on any given day or night has the quicker hands, was able to deliver a more powerful blow or blows, dish out more punishment than they receive.

Here are some of Andrea Medina’s favorite photo memories. (top center: a photo with her Dad/Coach Juan Medina Jr. followed by Jarret Hurd, the former WBA, IBF, IBO World Super Welterweight Champ. (below) are sparring partners, former and present day champions (l to r) Amaris Quintana, Kenia Enriquez, Kelc Jefferies followed by Andrea Medina who has plans to match their exploits.

At this point in her career, Gutierrez’s number one rival happens to be Andrea Medina who has a 4 win and 2 loss record against her. And yet, neither Medina nor Gutierrez have been chosen to be that one USA Boxing Team member to hold down the 57 kg (126 pound) female featherweight spot on the USA Boxing Team. Unfair as it may seem, it’s possible the constant scrutiny of the two young ladies might continue right up until opening day of the Olympics.

We could go on and on praising both Medina and her counterpart Gutierrez for their many victories and National Championships, plus the fact that each boxes like the slickest chess player while peppering their opponent with hard punches. At this point both must be besides themselves dreading the continual scrutiny.

This brings us to our current appraisal which involves Medina’s durability. The Bulgarian Boxing Federation’s brackets have Medina, if successful in her first match, battling on consecutive days and possibly battling competition that will no doubt be fresher or should we say rested.

January 22: In Andrea Medina’s first day of competition in her 57 kg weight class, she won a unanimous decision (5-0 victory) over Anastasila Kovalchuk of the Ukraine. Then, on the following day, Medina was again scheduled to face Dina Bogdanova of Russia.

As we look at the normally cute to drop dead gorgeous face of the young Andrea Medina, we have to wonder about the risk/danger involved in having this young lady box competitively two days in a row. It makes you wonder if this AIBA organization has a habit of disregarding the safety procedures of the sport which are always and forever a major concern of anyone involved in USA Amateur Boxing.

(You can look for daily follow-ups to this article as this AIBA/Bulgarian Boxing Federation sponsored Boxing tournament will have more and more changes/new match-ups in their brackets as we get closer to their Finals held Saturday, January 25, 2020.

What is even more troubling is the fact that the Irish lass, Michaela Walsh, who is one of the tournament favorites in this 57 kg weight class, has yet to fight anyone since her victory on Tuesday over Lupe Gutierrez. As mentioned, we will need to keep close tabs on these developments. Then Friday, January 24, 2019, Andrea Medina battled again and defeated Kinga Szlachic of Poland by a unanimous 5-0 decision.

This development has her firmly situated in the 57 kg female finals which are to take place Saturday, January 25, 2019. Her opponent on Saturday, just like these brackets remains a mystery.