By Jake Donovan

Let the games begin!

The 2012 Summer Olympics are officially underway. A spectacular (and upbeat) Opening Ceremony kicked off the festivities Friday evening in London, paving the way for more than 10,500 athletes from around the world to compete in the '12 Summer Games.

For regular readers of this website, there has traditionally only been one sport which matters - boxing. This leap year features a historical moment for the sport, as women's boxing is an official Olympic event for the first time in the history of the games.

Alas, the female fighters do not begin action for another week.

In the meantime, bantamweights and middleweights kick things off on the men's side. Joseph Diaz Jr. of Team USA was the first boxer to have his hand raised in Olympic competition, soundly outpointing Ukraine's bantamweight Pavlo Ischenko by a score of 19-9. A full recap by Cliff Rold can be found here .

Diaz now moves on to the round of 16, though a tough challenge awaits as he faces Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba, who had a bye in the opening round. 

Later in the day, Terrell Gausha represents Team USA in middleweight action against Andranik Hakobyan of Armenia.

On the home front, Anthony Ogogo gave his countrymen a thrill in taking his Round of 32 middleweight match with Junior Castillo of the Dominican Republic. Ogogo cruised to a 13-6 victory and now advances to the Round of 16. Awaiting him is Ukraine's Evhen Khytrov, who recieved a first round bye and is heavily favored to win the Gold after his romp through the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships.

Bantamweights - Round of 32 Results/Matchups:
Joseph Diaz Jr. (USA) def. Pavlo Ischenko (Ukraine), 19-9
Sergey Vodopiyanov (Russia) def. Alberto Melian (Argentina), 12-5
Robenilso Vieira (Brazil) def. Orzubek Shayimov (Uzbekistan), 13-7
JJ Nevin (Ireland) def. Dennis Ceylan (Denmark), 21-6
Kanat Abutalipov (Kazakhstan) def. Wessam Slamana (Syria), 15-7
Oscar Valdez (Mexico) def. Shiva Thapa (India), 14-9

Jonas Matheus (Namibia) vs. Vitorrio Parrinello (Italy)
Ibraham Balla (Australia) vs. Aboubakr Lbida (Morocco)
Ayabonga Sonjica (South Africa) vs. Detelin Dalakliev (Bulgaria)
Merab Turkadze (Georgia) vs. Mohamed Ouadahi (Algeria)
William Encarnacion (Dominican Republic) vs. Romeo Lemboumba (Gabon)
Isaac Dogboe (Ghana) vs. Satoshi Shimizu (Japan)

Middleweights - Round of 32 Results/Matchups:
Anthony Ogogo (Great Britain) def. Junior Castillo (Dominican Republic), 13-6
Darren O'Neill (Ireland) def. Muideen Akanji (Nigeria), 15-6
Stefan Hartel (Germany) def. Enrique Collazo (Puerto Rico), 18-10
Mjundjae Kasuto (Namibia) def. Sobirdzhon Inazarov (Tajikistan), 11-8
Zoltan Harcsa (Hungary) def. Jose Espinoza (Venezuela), 16-13
Soltan Migitinov (Azerbaijan) def. Mohamed Hikal (Egypt), 20-12

Abbos Atoev (Uzbekistan) vs. Badr-Eddine Haddioui (Morocco)
Terrell Guasha (USA) vs. Andranik Hakobyan (Armenia)
Vijender Singh (India) vs. Danabek Suzhanov (Kazakhstan)
Adem Kılıççı (Turkey) vs. Nursahat Pazziyev (Turkmenistan)
Aleksander Drenovak (Serbia) vs. Mario Delgado (Ecuador)
Jesse Ross (Australia) vs. Abdelmalek Rahou (Algeria)

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox