By Jake Donovan
Day two of Olympic boxing is officially underway, with the welterweight division showcased in opening round action.
Team USA welterweight darkhorse Errol Spence faces three-time Olympic participant Myke Carvalho of Brazil, who came up short in 2004 and 2008. Their bout takes place in the evening portion (London time) of the competition.
The afternoon session ended on a high note for the London crowd, as Great Britain's own Freddie Evans advances to the Round of 16 with an 18-10 win over Ilyas Abbadi of Algeria.
The fight appeared to be much closer than the final scores indicated, but Evans managed to be in the right place at the right team for nearly every exchange. The 'home team' welterweight was cheered wildly by his countryman every time he threw a punch, whether or not it landed. Plenty of them landed, or at least enough to please the judges.
While Evans' win was celebrated at great length by the rabid crowd on hand at the ExCel Arena, a harsh dose of reality awaits. Evans next faces Lithuana's Egidijus Kavaliauskas, who brutally knocked out the Welsh fighter in last year's World Championships.
Cameron Hammond of Australia conquered a game bit somewhat overmatched Moustopha Abdoulaye Hima of Niger in a 13-6 win. Hammond was already pulling away when scored a standing eight count towards the end of the second round, then piled on the points in the final round to seal the deal.
Canada's Custio Clayton avenged a 2010 Pan Am Games loss to Mexico's Oscar Molina with a 12-8 win in the Round of 32 in Olympic welterweight action. Clayton boxed well and used lateral movement to disrupt the rhythm of Molina, who came up just short on one too many exchanges.
Molina's twin brother, Javier Molina served on the 2008 U.S. Olympic boxing squad and is a current unbeaten pro, as is their older brother Carlos.
Alexis Vastine entered the 2012 Olympics with payback in mind after getting robbed against Felix Diaz of Cuba in the semi-final round of the 2008 Beijing Games. The first step in this journey proved to be a doozy, barely outlasting a determined Patrick Wojcicki of Germany to take a 16-12 decision.
The scoring system in present form actually worked in Vastine's favor, as he boxed from the outside landed just flush enough to literally score points with the judges. Wojcicki was the more aggressive fighter, but was outworked just enough to fall short in the end.
Tuvshinbat Byamba of Mongolia made it look like man against child as he had his way with Gabon's Yannick Mitoumba. Byamba won every second of the fight against the hopelessly overmatched Mitoumba in delivering a 17-4 beatdown to advance to the next round.
Vasiliji Belous of Moldova had his way in a 20-7 pounding of
Selemeni Kidunda of Tansinia
. Belous repeatedly scored with power shots upstairs against a reluctant Kidunda. The win sets up a Round of 16 matchup with Ukraines Taras Shelestyuk, the defending champion from the 2011 World Amateur Boxing champion who earned a 1st round bye.
Welterweights - Round of 32 Results (Sunday, July 29):
Vasiliji Belous (Moldova) def.
Selemeni Kidunda (Tansinia), 20-7
Tuvshinbat Byamba (Mongolia) def. Yannick Mitoumba (Gabon), 17-4
Alexis Vastine (France) def. Patrick Wojcicki (Germany), 16-12
Custio Clayton (Canada) def. Oscar Molina (Mexico), 12-8
Cameron Hammond (Australia) def.
Moustopha Abdoulaye Hima (Niger), 13-6
Freddie Evans (Great Britain) def. Ilyas Abbadi (Algeria), 18-10
Errol Spence (USA) vs Myke Carvalho (Brazil)
Carlos Sanchez (Ecuador) vs. Adam Nolan (Ireland)
Qiong Maimaitituersun (China) vs. Andrey Zamkovoy (Russia)
Abdulkareem Ahmed (Iraq) vs. Siphiwe Lusizi (South Africa)
Gabriel Maestre (Venezuela) vs. Amin Ghasemi (Iran)
Yasuhiro Suzuki (Japan) vs. Mehdi Khalsi (Morocco)
Round of 16 Matchups (Friday, August 3):
Vasiliji Belous (Moldova)
vs. (1) Taras Shelestyuk (Ukraine/Received 1st round bye)
Tuvshinbat Byamba (Mongolia) vs. Alexis Vastine (France)
Custio Clayton (Canada) vs. Cameron Hammond (Australia)
Freddie Evans (Great Britain) vs. (4) Egidijus Kavaliauskas (Lithuania/Received 1st round bye)
TBA vs. (3) Vikas Krishan Yadav (India/Received 1st round bye)
TBA vs. (2) Serik Sapiyev (Kazakhstan/Received 1st round bye)
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter:
@JakeNDaBox
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