Atheyna Bylon

Atheyna Bylon medal table
Boxing
Panama
World championships
gold	2014 Jeju	Welterweight
South American Games
silver	2014 Santiago de Chile	medium weight
Central America Games
gold	2013 San Jose	medium weight
Pan American Championships
bronze	2014 Guadalajara	medium weight
silver	2016 Santa Cruz de la Sierra	medium weight
Central American Championships
gold	2013 Managua	medium weight
gold	2014 San Jose	medium weight

Atheyna Bylon (* 1989 ) is a Panamanian boxer . She became world champion welterweight amateurs in 2014 .

Career

Atheyna Bylon started boxing as a teenager in Panama City. Nothing is known about their early development. The elegant athlete, who is rather tall for her weight class, boxes in the right-hand display. After joining the Panamanian National Police, where she found an excellent coach in Ricardo Cordova, she has made a rapid ascent since the beginning of 2013.

Her first internationally notable success came in March 2013 when she took 1st place at the 10th Central American Games in San Jose / Costa Rica in the middleweight division with points wins over Zulema Alvarez, Guayana and Leda Mayorga, Nicaragua. In November 2013, she also won the Central American Championships in Managua / Nicaragua, where she again defeated Ledy Mayorga on points in the middleweight finals.

Atheyna Bylon continued her winning streak at the 32nd Independence Cup in Santiago de los Caballero / Dominican Republic in February 2014. You defeated there u. a. Flavia Figueiredo, Brazil and in the final Maricel Cruz from the Dominican Republic. At the South American Games in March 2014 she reached the final, but this time she lost to Flavia Figueiredo on points.

In September 2014 she started at the Pan-American Championship in Guadalajara / Mexico. After a point victory over Alma Nora Ibarra, Mexico, she met the experienced ex-world champion Ariane Fortin from Canada in the final , against whom she lost just on points in an even fight (1: 2 judges' votes). This narrow defeat showed her that she had reached the top of the world among amateur boxers. A month later she won the 21st Central American Championship in San Jose / Costa Rica. In the final, she defeated Emily Jimenez from Costa Rica through tech. KO in the 1st round.

Due to her success, the world boxing association AIBA had become aware of Atheyna Bylon and she received an invitation to the world championship in November 2014 in Jeju / South Korea. She trained from middle to welterweight. At the beginning of this championship she was hardly known to anyone outside of South America. But she changed that very quickly when she won one fight after the other at this world championship. She defeated Neetu Chahal from India, Lauren Price , Wales, Gulizar Kara from Turkey, Elena Wystropowa , Azerbaijan and Saadat Abdulajewa from Russia on points and was sensationally world champion.

In 2014 Bylon rose again to the middleweight division and was defeated in a tournament in Sofia Anna Laurell , Sweden , with 2-1 judges' votes. At the American Olympic qualification tournament in 2016, Bylon unfortunately met the world champion Claressa Shields in the first fight and lost (3-0). In the same year, Bylon won the silver medal of the Pan-American championships, but this was irrelevant for qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games . Much more important were the 2016 World Championships , where Bylon failed in the first fight against Andreia Bandeira , Brazil (3: 0) and thus missed the direct qualification. But she was lucky: the Panamanian federation was awarded one of the Olympic wild cards to be awarded to small federations in the middleweight division, so that Bylon can now take part in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro .

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	successes
2013	1.	10. Central American Games in San Jose (Costa Rica	medium	after winning points over Zulema Alvarez, Guayana (18: 5) and Leda Myorga, Nicaragua / 13: 1)
2013	1.	20th Central American Championship in Managua / Nicaragua	medium	after winning points in the final over Ledy Mayorga (3-0 RS)
2013	3.	17th Bolivarian Games in Chiclayo / Peru	medium	after losing points in the semi-finals against Yenebier Guillen, Dom. Rep. (0: 3)
2014	1.	Independence Cup in Santiago de los Caballeros / Cathedral. Rep.	medium	after a technical knockout victory in the first round over Estefanie Oquendo, Puerto Rico and points victories over Flavia Figueiredo, Brazil (3 = 0) and Maricel Cruz, Dom. Rep. (3: 0)
2014	2.	10. South American Games in Santiago de Chile	medium	after winning points over Lourdes Alonso, Argentina and Francelin Carmona, Venezuela and a point defeat against Flavia Figueiredo
2014	2.	Qualification tournament f. the Central American and Caribbean Games in Tijuana / Mexico	medium	after winning points over Adriana Adriano, Mexico and Jessica Caicedo, Colombia (3-0) and a point defeat against Yenebier Guillen
2014	3.	Pan-American Championship in Guadalajara / Mexico	medium	after a point win over Alma Nora Ibarra, Mexico (2: 1) and a point defeat against Ariane Fortin, Canada (1: 2)
2014	3.	Copa Romana in La Romana / Dom. Rep.	medium	after a point defeat against Yenebier Guillen (0: 3)
2014	1.	World Cup in Jeju / South Korea	Welter	after winning points over Neetu Chahal, India (3: 0), Lauren Price, Wales (2: 1), Gulizar Kara, Turkey (3: 0), Jelena Wystropowa, Kazakhstan (2: 1) and Saadat Abdulajewa, Russia (2: 1 RS)

Explanations

• WM = World Championship
• Welter weight, weight class up to 69 kg, middle weight, up to 75 kg body weight
• RS = judges' votes (at the end of 2013 the controversial "point machines" were abolished by AIBA)
• Right display = hitting hand is the left hand

Web links

• www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl
• Fight of Atheyna Bylon against Emily Jimenez at the Central American Championship 2014 in San Jose / Costa Rica