Fayetteville-Native Naomi Graham Loses 4-1 in Olympic Boxing Debut
Fayetteville native Naomi Graham saw her Olympics come to an end early Wednesday morning, as the middleweight boxer lost her opening fight to Zenfira Magomedalieva.
Magomedalieva, of the Russian Olympic Committee, bested Graham 4-1 in rounds won to win the fight. Round scores were 30-27, 20-27, 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29, with the final round going for Graham.
Graham, who is the first active-duty female U.S. soldier to compete for Team USA boxing, was the third seed coming into the fight, but had a very difficult opening-round draw. According to Boxing Scene, Magomedalieva is a former heavyweight fighter, who has been working down in weight classes.
As we previously reported, Graham is a 2007 Pine Forest High School graduate, but according to a story from the U.S. Army, found herself homeless in 2012. A year later she was in the Army, and sent to Fort Carson, Colorado, where the Army’s World Class Athlete Program is based.
Graham became the second U.S. fighter to be eliminated, after Yarisel Ramirez had lost in the featherweight division.
Check out photos from the fight below.
