2008 Olympic Boxing Results, Day Four (Part One)

By Jake Donovan

The early portion of Day Four action didn’t feature any Americans, with flyweight Rau’shee Warren scheduled to appear later in the day. What the afternoon did provide was a major upset as well as another member of Team China advancing to the round of 16.

Dominican southpaw flyweight Juan Carlos Payano began the afternoon with a shocker, avenging a loss in the 2004 Summer Games with a 10-6 upset win over two-time Olympic medalist Jérôme Thomas of France.

It was a frustrating go of things for Thomas to say the least, who had as difficult of a time pinning down the active southpaw as he did keeping his headgear in place. The latter only added to his frustrations, but almost contributed to a disqualification loss for Payano.

Thomas took a knee in the opening seconds in efforts to call a time out for the wardrobe malfunction. The referee was slow to move in, with Payano connecting with a jab but missing with a straight left. A warning was issued, but he was permitted to continue.

That was the worst news of the night for Thomas, who couldn’t get any offense going as he trailed every step of the way.

Payano lost in the second round of the 2004 Olympics to Thomas, who went on to capture the silver medal after having won the bronze medal in the 2000 Games. The third time was not a charm for the 29-year old Frenchman, a shocker considering the success his teammates have enjoyed in this year’s competition thus far, sending four fighters to the round of 16.

Team Dominican Republic now has its third fighter advance. Payano, draped in ring attire donning the flags of Dominican Republic and China in efforts to win over the crowd, will next face Vincenzo Picardi of Italy.

Picardi had a much easier go of things in his opening round bout, leading every step of the way in his 10-3 win over Cassius Chiyanika of Zambia.

Mirat Sarsembayev of Kazakhstan moves on to round two by virtue of a 14-5 win over Rafal Kaczor of Poland. The southpaw flyweight will next face Russia’s Georgy Balakshin, a 2004 Olympic participant who received an opening round bye and is heavily favored to medal.

Team Venezuela now has four fighters in the round of 16, but Héctor Manzanilla Rangel gave the nation their first win in the 2008 Olympics, outlasting Issar Samir of Ghana by score of 13-10 in the afternoon’s first bout of bantamweight competition.

The bout began with Manzanilla presenting Samir with his nation’s flag, to which the Ghanaian graciously accepted. The next four rounds of action would see the two fighters trading punches and momentum, with neither fighter ever up by more than two points until the final 15 seconds of the bout.

Samir led early, but could only do enough to keep the fight close or even for the balance of the fight. Manzanilla surged ahead 5-4 at the end of one, and did everything in his power to preserve his lead and offset the Ghanaian’s aggression.

A key moment in the fight came in round three, when Samir was warned for hitting behind the head, resulting in two points added to Manzanilla’s card. The infraction came just as Samir evened up the score at 7-7, spending the rest of the fight unsuccessfully playing catchup.

Manzanilla gives Venezuela its first win, with Jhonny Sanchez, Alfonso Blanco and Luis Gonzalez receiving opening round byes. Also receiving a bye was South Korea’s Han Soon Chul, who will meet Manzanilla in the round of 16.

Team Mauritius has only two fighters on its Olympic boxing squad, but remains perfect as bantamweight Bruno Julie joins teammate Richarno Colin in the next round of competition after his 17-8 win over Emanuel Thabiso Nketu, the lone Olympic representative of any sport for his Lesotho nation.

Julie’s win came in come from behind fashion; he was down 4-0 after one and 6-2 early in the second before tacking on eight straight points to pull ahead and stay there for the duration of the bout. Nketu closed the gap to 10-8, only for Julie to score the final eight points of the fight for the win.

Next up for Julie is Uzbekistan’s Khurshid Tadjibayev, who defeated Rustamhodza Rahimov of Germany, 11-2.

It was a slow-paced bout, with both fighters posing more than punching in the first three rounds before Tadjibayev, who never trailed, exploded four six points in the final rounds to turn a close, tactical fight into a rout.

China leads all nations in medals through four days in the competition, and for the moment boasts the most fighters to have advanced to the round of 16. Scrappy bantamweight Gu Yu became the fifth member of the home team to move on to the next round, exploding for a 17-7 win over Joe Murray.

The bout was never close, with Yu up 4-0 after one, immediately energizing an already rabid crowd. Murray’s first points came 30 seconds into round two, when Yu received a two point foul for excessive holding. The only problem was, Murray’s deficit went back to four without a second moving off of the clock, as he was guilty of the same infraction. From 6-2,the lead quickly grew to 9-3 as Murray had a hard time connecting with any clean punches.

Yu was “held” to three points in the third, but scored five in the final round to cruise to victory.

Awaiting the Chinese southpaw is another lefty in Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova, who advances after scoring an upset over 2004 Olympian Khavazhi Khatsigov of Belarus. Gojan emerged by virtue of countback, when the judges determined the Moldovan to land the more quality blows in help breaking a fight ending 1-1 tie.

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=15365

Round One Report Cards:
Sadam Ali: coming Tuesday AM
Demetrius Andrade: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15348
Shawn Estrada: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15332
Javier Molina: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15341
Raynell Williams: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15349

Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.