2008 Olympic Boxing Results, Day Six (Part Two)

By Jake Donovan

The US men’s basketball squad has been dubbed “Redeem Team” as motivation to erase its embarrassing showing in the 2004 Games. It appears that the five remaining members of the American boxing squad have adopted the same mentality in the aftermath of Rau’shee Warren’s heartbreaking opening round upset loss.

Reigning world amateur welterweight champion Demetrius Andrade made it three straight wins for Team USA, joining heavyweight teammate Deontay Wilder in the quarterfinals after a 14-3 drubbing of Russia’s Anatoly Balanov.

The 6’2” southpaw used lateral movement to avoid the incoming, leading to a tactical opening round. The first point came well over a minute in, when Andrade connected with a jab and left hand to the body. He’d close the round with a 2-0 lead after feigning twice with the jab to connect with a straight left upstairs.

Andrade was far less mobile in the second round, instead crowding Balanov anytime the Russian attempted to work his way inside. Both fighters were getting in good licks to the body, though the judges didn’t seem impressed for the first minute, until finally crediting Balanov for right hook downstairs for his first point. Andrade immediately returned fire, scoring a point seconds later before tacking on another four to leave the second with a commanding 7-1 lead.

A straight left hand upstairs early in the third had Balanov on wobbly legs, and also now down by 7 points. That lead quickly grew to 10-1 before the Russian would benefit from a 2-point foul issued to Andrade for dipping his head too low. It would be the last point Andrade would give up, extending his lead to 11-3 with two minutes to go.

Coach Dan Campbell instructed Andrade in between rounds to keep the fight on the outside and throw more combinations. Student followed teacher’s instructions to a tee.

Andrade utilized lateral movement for most of the round, minimizing Balanov’s scoring opportunities. He’d stop every once in a while to plant his feet and let his hands go, resulting in three points scored in a span of 30 seconds. A straight left with about 15 seconds left would result in the bout’s final point, giving Andrade a commanding win in arguably Team USA’s best performance to date in the 2008 Games.

There’s no question it was miles better than his opening round performance.

“The first fight I was anxious, just trying to get in there and do whatever I can,” admitted Andrade, who struggled to an 11-9 win over Georgia’s Kakhaber Zhvania in the opening round. “The first fight was something I needed to do to get back. Having not fought in eight months, it was a little rough for me but I got through it.

He was also given an added incentive to win, as he’s waited three years to avenge a loss to Balanov at the 2005 World Cup. Andrade was only 17 at the time. Given three years to mature, the southpaw was able to deliver a far more measured performance.

“This fight, I calmed myself down, and let my corner know we’re working together and making things happen. The jab was very important. It blinded him and allowed me to work the head and body. After I got it, I went back to boxing.”

He now goes to the quarterfinals, which he foresees as the first of three more stops en route to the goal for which he established prior to traveling to Beijing.

“My confidence is at 100%. The day for me to leave is August 26; that’s what I day I plan on leaving, and with the Gold medal.”

Standing in his way for the moment is 2004 welterweight Bronze medalist Jung-Joo Kim, who cruises to the third round after a 10-0 shutout over John Jackson of the Virgin Islands.

The loss is the end of any hopes former two-time world champion Julian Jackson had of his sons scoring Olympic hardware. His older son Julius Jackson was ousted from the first round of light heavyweight competition.

Bakhyt Saesekbayev of Kazakhstan and Dilshod Mahmudov of Uzbekistan followed the trend of Round of 16 welterweight whitewashes en route to a quarterfinals collision course.

Saesekbayev scored the lone knockout of welterweight competition, stopping Moldova’s Vitaly Grusac at 1:18 of the second round. Grusac captured Olympic bronze in the 2000 Games but at age 31 has quite possibly participated in his last ever amateur fight.

There’s plenty of fight left in 25-year old Mahmudov, who had his hand raised in victory after his 8-3 win over France’s Jaoid Chiguer.

The top-half of light welterweight’s Round of 16 matchups saw its fair share of lopsided wins as well. All four fights in the bracket boasted margins of victory ranging from 9 to 19 points.

Jonny Sanchez of Venezuela left the first round at a 3-3 tie in his match with heavily favored Serik Sapiyev of Kazakhstan. That dynamic quickly changed, with Sapiyev rattling off 19 straight points en route to a 22-3 blowout.

Sapiyev could’ve easily cruised in the fourth round after opening up to a 14-3 lead. He instead went for the kill, outscoring Sanchez 8-0 in the final round to add insult to injury.

Perhaps his goal was to send a message to his next opponent, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Manus Boonjumnong. The Thai guy returns in pursuit of his second straight medal, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 8-1 win over Masatsugu Kawachi of Japan.

Kawachi scored a massive upset over Boonjumnong in the opening round of last year’s World Amateur Championships. There would be no such occurrence this time around. Boonjumnong jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one, and scored the bout’s final five points to avenge the last loss of his amateur career. He has now won six straight Olympic bouts.

Team Russia placed nine of its 11 Olympic boxers in the Round of 16, though three have since been ousted from competition. Gennady Kovalev helped momentarily stop the bleeding, soundly defeating Richarno Colin of Mauritius, 11-2. A two-time Olympian, his last loss in the Games came at the hands of two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux in the 2004 bantamweight quarterfinals.

He now gets a crack at another Cuban in this year’s light welterweight quarterfinals, as Roniel Iglesias celebrated his 20th birthday with a 15-3 drubbing of Morocco’s Driss Moussaid.

The first competitive light welterweight battle went down to the wire, with Manuel Felix Diaz becoming the first member of the Dominican Republic squad to advance to the quarterfinals. It almost didn’t happen, as Diaz blew an early 5-1 lead and was forced to rally all the way back to an 11-11 tie before winning via countback over John Joe Joyce of Ireland.

Joyce enjoyed a big third round to pull ahead for the first time in the bout by score of 9-8. He was up by one with 30 seconds left in the fight, but got a little too cute for his own good, attempting to run out the clock. Not the best strategy when your opponent is a natural aggressor with a knack for cutting off the ring.

Diaz trapped Joyce along the ropes, nailing him with a straight left hand from the southpaw stance to tie up the fight with 15 seconds left. From there it was up to the judges, who awarded Diaz the win by virtue of more accepted scoring points.

Next up for Diaz is Iran’s Morteza Sepahvand, who upset 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Ionut Gherorge of Romania by score of 8-4. Sepahvand led the entire fight, limiting Gheorge to one point per round.

Gheorge would be the first of two ’04 bronze medalists to fall short in this year’s round of 16. Bulgaria’s hopes of winning a medal in this year’s boxing competition ended with two-time Olympian Boris Georgiev falling way short in a 10-3 upset loss to Mongolian southpaw Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeng.

Awaiting Uranchimeng is France’s Alexis Vastine, who ousted hard hitting Bradley Saunders of Great Britain with a 11-7 nod to close out round two of light welterweight competition.

More on Team USA and The Quest For Gold:

Day One Competition:

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

Round One Report Card – Shawn Estrada:

https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15332

Day Two Competition:

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

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

Scoreboard - https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15337

Rd 1 Report Card – Javier Molina: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15341

Rd 1 Report Card – Demetrius Andrade: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15348

Day Three Competition: