By Jake Donovan
East Los Angeles middleweight (165 lb/75 kg) Shawn Estrada scored the first win of the 2008 Summer Olympics for Team
Estrada, 23, sprinted out to an early lead, as he was up 3-0 less than a minute into the bout. He was up 7-0 before Maderna scored his first point. It didn’t come until midway through the second round, a straight right hand from the outside after coming up short and wide with the majority of his punches to that point.
With a third round marred by excessive clinching and very little clean punching. The 6’1” Estrada danced on his toes and boxed from the outside in the fourth and final round. The strategy worked, scoring two points early and spending the rest of the frame fighting behind a peek-a-boo defense as Maderna was unable to land another clean shot.
The bout was a rematch to their qualifying bout earlier this year, also won by Estrada though in a match that featured even less contact than Saturday’s return go.
“It was a big advantage, but he came on a little harder this time,” said Estrada of drawing the familiar foe for his opening round match. “I kept my composure to finish out the rounds.”
With the win, Estrada advances to the round of 16. He draws a less favorable matchup against slick
The switch-hitting Degale, who owns an amateur win over current unbeaten pro middleweight prospect Craig McEwan, fell behind early, down 3-2 midway through the opening round, but scored 11 straight points to cruise to victory by a 13-4 margin.
The scoring blows came from a variety of punches, including jabs and straight rights upstairs and looping right hands to the body while constantly flipping back and forth between orthodox and southpaw stance.
Estrada and Degale will square off Saturday, August 16 in the final bout of their upper bracket.
Team
Ghanaian light heavyweight Bastie Samir scored a third round stoppage over Dauda Izobo of
Samir was down 3-0 before sending Izobo to the canvas with a corker of a left hook midway through the second round. It would be the first of three official knockdowns credited to Samir before the bout was waved off at 1:28 of round three.
The win advances Samir to the light heavyweight round of 16, where he faces banger Washington Silva of Brazil, who was successful in his opening round bid with a 6-2 win over Azea Augustama.
At age 30, Silva is one of the older boxers in the Games, as well as among a handful of fighters returning from the 2004 Olympics. He lost in the opening round of the ’04 Games.
Moments after the first stoppage of the 2008 Games was in the books,
The bout was a rematch to their meeting in the World Amateur Boxing Championships last October in
Julius showed flashes of his father’s gifted power, sending Egan to the canvas in the second with a right hand. The knockdown was waved off, however, as the referee ruled it a slip. It was one of only two scoring moments enjoyed by
Egan advances to the round of 16, drawing Baram Muzaffer of
While Julius bows out, the Olympic dream isn’t quite yet dead for the
As to be expected, the crowd came alive for Zhang Xioping, the first member of Team
His middleweight teammate Wang Jianzheng wasn’t as fortunate, dropping a 15-6 decision to Sergei Derevyanchenko of
Full results (as of 12:00PM EST):
Middleweight (165 lb/ 75 kg):
Matvey Korobov (
Bakhtiyar Artayev (
James Degale (
Shawn Estrada (
Andranik Hakobyan (
Elshod Rasulov (
Emilio Correa (Cuba) UD-4 Jarrod Fletcher (Australia), 17-4
Sergei Derevyanchenko (
Carlos Góngora (Ecuador) UD-4 Konstantin Buga (Germany), 14-7
Georgios Gazis (
Angkhan Chomphuphuang (
Vijende Kumar (India) UD-4 Badou Jack (Gambia), 13-2
Light Heavyweight (178 lb, 81 kg):
Washington Silva (Brazil) UD-4 Azea Augustama (Haiti), 6-2.
Bastie Samir (Ghana) RSC-3 (1:28) Dauda Izobo (Nigeria)
Kenny Egan (
Baram Muzaffer (
Zhang Xioping (
Artur Beterbiyev (
Ramadan Yasser (Egypt) UD-4 Ramazan Magomedov (Belarus), +10, 10
Abdelhafid Benchabla (Algeria) RSC-3 (1:42) Dinesh Kumar (India)
Marijo Sivolija-Jelica (Croatia) RSC-3 (0:23) Farani Tavui (Samoa)
Dzhakhon Kurbanov (Tajikstan) UD-4 Abbs Atoev (Uzbekistán), 11-3
Carlos Negron (Puerto Rico) UD-4 Mehdi Ghorbani (Iran), 13-4
Yerkebulan Syhnaliyev (Kazakhstan) UD-4 Daugirdas Semiotas (Lithuania) 11-3
Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of
ADD COMMENT VIEW COMMENTS (6)