By Cliff Rold

Heavyweight Deontay Wilder woke the world in the first session of day five, announcing that Team USA wasn’t ready to throw in the towel after the loss of Rau’shee Warren, battering his Algerian foe moving the team mark to 4-3.  19-year old Light Flyweight Luis Yanez of Duncanville, Texas kept them above .500 in style during the second session of the day to announce that the quest for Gold in the 2008 Beijing Games remains serious business.  It would have been easy for the two remaining Olympians left in the first round to submit to disappointments and frustrations.

Instead, both manned up in ways that belied their youth.

Across the ring from Yanez stood Spain’s Jose Kelvin De La Nieve, a fighter relatively inexperienced at the international level and a good draw for a Yanez who will need to gain confidence in what might be the toughest of all divisions to conquer this year; more on the why of that at the end.

The spirited Texan, a laser fast southpaw who has been fighting since the age of 9, has himself only recently stamped footing at the World open level after dominating the U.S. scene, not having lost at home for five years and close to 90 fights.  Along the way that meant 2006 and 2007 U.S. Amateur and National Golden Gloves titles at the amateur Light Flyweight limit of 106 lbs.  At the World level, he captured Gold at the 2007 Pan-Am Games.  No American has medaled in the class since eventual professional Jr. Flyweight World champion and Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal brought home the Silver in 1988.

The speed was on display from the opening for Yanez’s four rounds of action, leaning backwards on his left foot and snapping the jab for range, but no points would score until a counter right hook hook sailed over a missed jab from De La Nieve.  The Spaniard would get the point back with a lead left hook of his own with Yanez pinned to the ropes.  Both young men were throwing with great velocity, something to be expected at such a small weight, and De La Nieve pulled ahead 2-1 with a snapping lead left hook to the body.  Yanez remained calm and got the point back with a precision left hand and they traded points to end the round 3-3.

The bad feeling that set in early in Warren’s bout and the nerves of Wilder’s earlier deficit in the two previous U.S. outings just wasn’t there after two minutes were completed for Yanez.  This looked like a very winnable fight and no real chicanery was showing up with the button mash..er, judges at ringside. 

Yanez came out for the second more aggressively, weight now resting on his lead right foot, but a lead right hook landed and went unscored.  A landing left seconds later did not.  Yanez worked the full space of the ring, forcing De La Nieves to follow, which he did with a scoring blow of his own to tie the action before a left put Yanez ahead again.  It was an advantage he’d maintain up to the final bell at 5-4.

Yanez would never trail or so much as be tied again.  Even as he struggled for a moment in the third with his footing, Yanez recognized an opportunity to take over the contest and did.  Much like the best of the rest of the world, Yanez built on his lead by moving and throwing only when De La Nieve overcommitted in hopes of digging out of the scoring whole.  The third would end 10-6 in Yanez’s favor.

If there was a criticism of Yanez in the bout, it came wisely from television commentator Teddy Atlas who cited a hitch in the American’s Boxing rhythm.  Often after throwing, Yanez pulls his arms high and flailing past his shoulders.  In a closer fight, against a better opponent, it’s a hitch that will create openings for counters.  It is good for Yanez that, even with a headgear that didn’t seem to fit right, his head movement makes him a difficult target.

In the final frame, Yanez again took a page from other spots on the globe, largely coasting on his lead and being outscored 3-2 in the round but it was no matter.  De La Nieve needed a five-point advantage and Yanez wasn’t giving it to him.  It wasn’t Team USA’s best single performance so far; that still belongs to Raynell Williams. 

At the end of this marathon of competition though, it could be looked back on as one of the most important. 
 
Round One Grade: A-

Yanez thrilled with the second A performance of the first round for America, a minus thrown in only to differentiate with his featherweight teammate.  Before and after the bout, Yanez’s having met with a sports psychologist prior to the bout came up and Yanez handled questioning on the issue with honesty and a shrug.  Whatever it is that has gone and does go on in the psyche of the hyper-kinetic Yanez, including the still undisclosed reasons for his multi-week disappearance from the Olympic training camp, removal from the team, and eventual reinstatement, he knows how to win. 

There is no more doubting of that than there was his sincerity in shouting out his father back home in the States after his victory.  It’s hard to say exactly what it is about Yanez, but he’s damn good TV.  There is an emotional rawness in his eyes, posture, choice of words and fighting style that just demands attention and a rooting section.

It’s a section he’ll need.  Yanez will have two days rest before stepping in this Saturday, August 16th, against Mongolia’s Serdoma Purevdorj.  It should be a winnable fight based on previous results and Purevdorj’s lesser international experience, but the real fight at 106 is everyone versus China’s Zou Shiming. 

The 27-year old Shiming fought his opening round bout in front of a raucous crowd and is a national celebrity in China.  It would be foolish to assume that his is not a monster of a home field advantage made a greater obstacle by a simple fact: Shiming is good.

Damn good.  He was his usual self on Wednesday, cruising past Venezuela’s Eduard Bermudez Salas by a score of 11-2 while barely breaking a sweat.

Silver at the 2003 World Amateurs for Shiming was followed with a Bronze run at the 2004 Games which included eliminating America’s Rau’shee Warren in the first round.  Since Athens he’s won the World Amateurs in 2005 and 2007.  He is a prohibitive favorite over everyone and particularly, until proven otherwise, Yanez.  At a dual U.S.-China meet late last year, Shiming mercy ruled Yanez in three.  The American will have to be at his best along the road to a possible rematch; he may have to be perfect to beat Shiming if he gets the chance in Beijing.

With that, BoxingScene’s coverage of Round One of the Olympic Games comes to close which doesn’t mean anything other than Round Two is already underway as loyal readers and skimming away.  Tonight on CNBC, the U.S. has one man in action as reigning 2007 World Amateur Welterweight champion Demetrius Andrade tries to avenge a loss at the 2005 World tournament to Russia’s Andrey Balanov in the second session of day six.

The winner moves on from the sweet sixteen to the elite eight.  The loser finds a seat in the stands before heading home.

More on Team USA and “The Quest for Gold”

Round One

Day One Results 
https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15327 
Middleweight Report Card – Shawn Estrada https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15332

Round Two - Coming soon

Up Next
Round Two: Welterweight Demetrius Andrade

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Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com