Warwick’s Chearino comes up just short in quest for world title

Ranked 10th but injured, local fighter still puts it on the line for chance at the crown

Posted 11/27/14

It would’ve been easy for Warwick’s Destiny Chearino not to fight last week at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in Jeju, South Korea.

But she’d come too far. Chearino took two years …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Warwick’s Chearino comes up just short in quest for world title

Ranked 10th but injured, local fighter still puts it on the line for chance at the crown

Posted

It would’ve been easy for Warwick’s Destiny Chearino not to fight last week at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in Jeju, South Korea.

But she’d come too far. Chearino took two years off from boxing prior to 2011 to focus on school, but returned to the sport she loved and put in two and a half years of hard work with trainer Brian Pennacchia of BP Boxing. With many hours and dedication put forth, Pennacchia helped Chearino become a national champion, giving her an opportunity to compete in last week’s World Championships.

When an athlete has the opportunity not only to represent their state and region, but their home country as well, that can be a difficult thing to pass up.

Chearino, the USA’s national boxing champion in the light welterweight class, lost her fight to a Romanian fighter who was ranked No. 9 in the world last week.

Chearino, who is ranked No. 10 in the world, lost a split decision but the loss in far more impressive than it sounds.

Chearino competed at the World Championships with only one properly functioning arm.

Last month at the Continental Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Chearino came in second, earning a silver medal out of 27 competitors in her light welterweight class. However, she sustained an injury in those games that would severely impact her after the Continental Games concluded.

The injury was worse than speculated at first, keeping Chearino out of the National PAL tournament in California prior to the World Championships.

It was discovered that Chearino had torn her ulnar collateral ligament in her left elbow while fighting in Mexico. The injury is common in many baseball pitchers, and the injury likely requires surgery in most cases. Additionally, she endured a stress fracture and a bone bruise in that same area.

“She suffered the injury in the semifinals in Mexico and fought with it in the finals,” Pennacchia said. “After that we had to pull her from a tournament (National PAL) out in California.”

With the reality of knowing that she would probably need surgery to fix her UCL anyways, Chearino decided to go to South Korea to compete in the World Championships, hoping that there was a slim chance that she would further damage her elbow.

In her mind, she had come too far and there was no way that she could turn back at that point.

“She was determined to fight even though she was advised not to fight,” Pennacchia said.

Showing a lot of courage but not being able to straighten her left arm, Chearino’s opponent quickly picked up on her inefficiencies and took advantage of it.

“I thought she did really well all things considered,” Pennacchia said. “I expected her to be able to use her left a little bit, but she just couldn’t do it. Once the girl realized that she wasn’t going to get hit with the other hand, she got really aggressive.”

Chearino nearly pulled off a win against all odds, and there was no way that she wasn’t going to fight, putting her life on hold for a full year to prepare for the world championships.

It was a once in a lifetime chance and there will never be the thought of ‘what if,’ had she not fought.

Chearino, who is also a doctoral student in physical therapy at the University of Rhode Island, returned home yesterday and will now have time to recover and focus on her studies.

The same girl that took two years off from boxing prior to returning to the sport that she loved in 2011, will now return on a different quest to earn her master’s degree while she rehabs from her scheduled surgery in December.

The surgery will keep her sidelined for anywhere from six months to a year. However, she certainly has no regrets in her approach.

Chearino’s back was against the ropes, but she proved that she is a true fighter.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here