By Jake Donovan

The evening portion of Day One saw Terrell Gausha deliver the first knockdowns and stoppage of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The Cleveland (OH) native rallied late to twice drop Andranik Hakobyan of Armenia, the latter knockdown prompting the referee to stop the fight with no time left on the clock. 


Gausha will now face three-time Olympic boxer Vijender Singh, who outlasted a determined Danabek Suzhanov of Kazakhstan to the tune of a 14-10 victory. Singh captured Olympic bronze for his native India in the 2008 Beijing Games, after being shown the exit in the opening round of the 2004 competition in Athens.

Overall, Team USA went 2-0 on the day. Joseph Diaz Jr. advances in bantamweight competition with a 19-9 points win over Pavlo Ischenko of Ukraine in the very first bout of the competition earlier Saturday afternoon.

Abdelmalek Rahou of Algeria was the final contestant of the day to advance to the Round of 16, overcoming a considerable height disadvantage to take a 13-11 victory over Jesse Ross of Australia. Rahou managed to work his way inside often enough to negate Ross’ jab and also remained poised as the Aussie middleweight switched back and forth between conventional and southpaw stance.

Awaiting Rahou in the Round of 16 is Ryota Murata of Japan, the number two seed in the middleweight division who was granted an opening round bye. 

Adem Kılıççı of Turkey cruised to a 14-7 points win over Nursahat Pazziyev of Turkmenistan. Kılıççı has now surpassed his previous Olympic experience, having bowed out on the opening round of the 2008 Beijing Games against Billy Joe Saunders.

Next up for Kılıççı is Aleksander Drenovak of Serbia, who won the most lopsided affair of the day as dominated 19-year old Marlo Delgado of Ecuador. Drenovak - 10 years his opponent's senior - sprinted out to a massive lead early en route to a 30-12 drubbing to advance to the Round of 16.
Abbos Atoev built up a big enough lead to fend off a last round rally by Badr-Eddine Haddiouu of Morocco to advance to the round of 16. Atoev, representing Uzbekistan, won 11-9 and will next face Bogdan Juratoni of Romania, who was granted a bye in the opening round.

Middleweight action from earlier in the day can be found HERE. Round two of middleweight competition resumes Thursday, August 2. 
Middleweights - Round of 32 Results (Saturday, July 28):
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) def.  Badr-Eddine Haddioui (Morocco) – 11-9
Terrell Gausha (USA) def. Andranik Hakobyan (Armenia) - RSC-3
Vijender Singh (India) def. Danabek Suzhanov (Kazakhstan) - 14-10
Adem Kılıççı (Turkey) def. Nursahat Pazziyev (Turkmenistan) - 14-7
Aleksander Drenovak (Serbia) def. Mario Delgado (Ecuador) - 30-12
Abdelmalek Rahou (Algeria) def.  Jesse Ross (Australia) - 13-11

Middleweights - Round of 16 Matchups (Thursday, August 2):
Anthony Ogogo (Great Britain) vs. Ievgen Khytrov (Uzbekistan/Received 1st round bye)
Darren O’Neill (Ireland) vs. Stefan Hartel (Germany)
Mjundjae Kasuto (Namibia) vs. Zoltan Harcsa (Hungary)
Soltan Migitinov (Azerbaijan) vs. Ezquiva Falcao (Brazil/Received 1st round bye)
Abbos Atoev (Uzbekistan) (Morocco) vs. Bogdan Juratoni (Romania/Received 1st round bye)
Terrell Gausha (USA) vs. Vijender Singh (India)
Adem Kılıççı (Turkey) vs.  Aleksander Drenovak (Serbia)
Abdelmalek Rahou (Algeria)  vs. Ryota Murata (Japan/Received 1st round bye)

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