2008 Olympic Boxing Results, Day Three (Part Two)

By Jake Donovan

It was an evening to forget for Team USA, who sees a second team member fall way short in the opening round, while Cuba and China continue to fill up brackets in the Sweet 16.

Brooklyn’s own Sadam Ali, the first ever Arab-American to compete in the Olympics, received an extensive showcase on the tape-delayed evening feed on CNBC. Questions were raised on whether his “Brooklyn style” of boxing would help or harm him in the Summer Games.

The answer turned out to be the latter, as the 19-year old American was manhandled by Georgian Popescu of Romania, losing 20-5 to exit in the opening round of the tournament.

It wasn’t all bad for Ali, who led for a brief moment in the opening round. The taller Popescu scored the bout’s first point and kept a tight defense in the first minute, but Ali was able to crack the guard just enough to score two straight points, including a right hand after dodging a right hook from the Romanian southpaw.

That was about as good as it got for Ali, who fell back behind by round’s end, and could never catch up. Popescu constantly served as the aggressor, feeding off of Ali’s unwillingness to commit to his punches. A five-point second round kept Popescu in the driver’s seat for good, punctuated with a late round knockdown, produced by a left hook from the orthodox stance.

The only chinks in Popescu’s armor were a few wardrobe malfunctions. Time was called late in the first when his jersey came loose, and received another break early in the third after his head was momentarily separated from his headgear. The break didn’t benefit Ali in the slightest; Popescu would rattle off six straight points, scoring eight overall in the round for a commanding 16-5 lead heading into the final round.

Ali stood his ground in the final two minutes, but couldn’t do enough to get the judges to press their buttons. Popescu was still finding his spots, alternating between lateral movement and standstill aggression, with jabs and straight lefts producing four points in the round for a commanding win.

For Ali, it’s the end of an odd journey filled with controversy, adversity, joy and eventually despair. He nearly faced disqualification from the Olympics when his post-fight drug test following a China-based exhibition came back positive for cathine.

Ali was able to appeal the verdict, at which point the prescribing doctor backed the fighter’s claim that medication was the cause for the drug turning up in his test, allowing him to still compete and qualify for the Olympics, which he did with a second place finish in the AIBA Qualifying Tournament in Port of Spain earlier this year.

The plan for now is to cheer his teammates on from ringside for the remainder of the Games, and then turn pro soon thereafter.

While Ali has pro aspirations in sight, his conqueror Popescu has a tough draw in his face in the round of 16. The Romanian will next face ultra-talented Mexican lightweight Francisco Vargas, who made easy work of Jean de Dieu Soloniaina of Madagascar with a 9-2 win.

Vargas was the second Mexican competitor of the day to make the round of 16. Arturo Santos Reyes advances in the featherweight bracket after his 6-2 victory over Nick Okoth of Kenya.

There stands a good chance for Reyes to qualify for the Quarterfinals. The featherweight is a particularly tough bracket, but Reyes drew a favorable slot as he will next face Alaa Shili of Tunisia. Not that Shili is a walkover; Wilhelm Gratschow of Germany can attest to that after dropping a 14-5 verdict in their opening round featherweight battle.

The bottom portion of the featherweight bracket resembles something of murderer’s row. Leading the charge is 21-year old Idel Torriente, whose opening round bout was similar to that of his Cuban teammates, which is to say he cruised. Prince Octopus Dzanie had no answers, failing to score a point until the third round in falling way short in the end, by score of 11-2.

Torriente’s next opponent is Mongolia’s Zorigt baatar Enzkhzorig, who was every bit as dominant in pulling a 10-1 nod over Mahdi Ouatine of Morocco.

Thato Batshegi of Botswana was the lone fighter among the afternoon’s four remaining featherweights to have not previously fought in the Olympics. The difference in experience showed in his 14-4 loss to Nikoloz Izoria of Georgia, who made it to the second round of the 2004 Games as a flyweight.

No matter how well he fared or who would win the last round in the bottom half bracket, Izoria knew in advance that the round of 16 matchup will be an uphill battle.

A pair of Alexei Tichtchenko casualties from the 2004 Olympics squared off in the opening round of this year’s Games. Shahin Imranov of Azaebaijan lost to the Russian in the second round of the Athens Games, while Galib Jafarov of Kazakhstan fell short in the quarterfinals.

Going head to head in this year’s games, it’s Imranov who lasts at least one tournament round longer, as he moves on to face Izoria in the Sweet 16 after outpointing Jafavor 9-5, in their featherweight tilt. The bout was tightly contested as expected, with Imranov not pulling away until the final round.

Kim Song-Guk of North Korea was yet another 2004 Olympian to fall short against Tichtchenko, losing to the all-time great amateur in the finals to settle for Olympic Silver. There won’t be a rematch in this year’s competition, as Song-Guk was shown the exit by France’s Daouda Sow, who not only scored a major upset, but did so in dominant fashion with a 13-3 victory.

A scoreless first was as close as it ever was for Song-Guk, who had no answers for the mobile southpaw. Sow tacked on four points in each of the second and third rounds, and five more in the final round to score a huge win for Team France.

Sow will now face 18-year old Puerto Rican lightweight Jose Pedraza, who had his way with 19-year Turk Onur Şipal, winning 10-3.

Team China is now 4-2 in this year’s Olympic competition, thanks to Hi Qing’s minor upset over Oleksander Klyuchko in a nailbiter.

As has been the case with all members of China’s squad, the crowd erupted anytime Qing made a move. Boos were heard for the first time in this year’s boxing competition after Klyuchko scored the first point, which came in round two. Qing brought out the best in the crowd by immediately responding with a scoring punch of his own, and taking over the round to lead 5-2 after a scoreless first.

Qing’s lead grew to five midway through the third, but Klyuchko would slowly but surely peck his way back into the fight. Down by four heading into the final round, the Ukrainian utilized every inch of the ring to avoid the incoming while pecking away. He came within one but Qing woke up just in time to preserve his lead, with both fighters scoring two apiece in the final 30 seconds of the bout.

With the win, Qing becomes the fourth member of Team China to advance to the round of 16. He next faces Kazakh lightweight Merey Akshalov, who won 13-2 over Hungary’s Miklós Varga.

For complete Boxingscene.com Olympic boxing coverage, check out the following links:

Day One Competition:

https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15327

Day Two Competition:

https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15336

https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15339

Day Three Competition:

https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15346

https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15357

BoxingScene.com 2008 Olympic Scoreboard (through Monday August 11)

https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15347

Round One Report Cards: