By Jake Donovan

It’s the end of the road for Team USA’s youngest member, while another advances to the Sweet 16 in day two of Olympic boxing action.

The vast difference in experience was evident early in 18-year old Javier Molina’s opening round bout against Boris Georgiev of Bulgaria in the light welterweight division. Georgiev was too fast, too strong and too far ahead the entire way through, cruising to 17-1 victory.

Georgiev effectively mixed boxing and natural aggression, standing and scoring on the inside before darting to the outside, utilizing lateral movement to effectively avoid return fire. Molina’s lone point came after falling behind 8-0, with the scoring opportunity coming early in round two. The Bulgarian played hit and don’t get hit from that point onward, scoring nine unanswered points over the final 2 ½ rounds, including a standing eight count in the third round, to cruise to victory.

Molina’s exit marks the first loss for Team USA in the 2008 Summer Olympics, though now down to seven participants in pursuit of Olympic gold. It didn’t help that Molina drew arguably the toughest matchup of the opening round. Georgiev earned a bronze medal in the 2004 Games and is heavily favored to score some hardware in 2008.

The Georgiev-Molina bout mirrored that of another opening round light welterweight matchup, as 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Ionut Gheorghe of Romania easily turned away the challenge of 19-year old Jonathan Gonzalez Ortiz of Puerto Rico by a 21-4 margin. Gheorge scored a standing eight count in round two, and led every step of the way in advancing to the next round.

Bradley Saunders of Great Britain provided the only knockout in light welterweight competition to date, stopping Samuel Kotey Neequaye of Ghana at 1:24 of the opening round.

Saunders fell behind early 2-0, but his power served as the ultimate equalizer, scoring two clean knockdowns in less than a minute, both knockdowns coming from what the Brit referred to as “the Ricky Hatton left hook.”

The first came from a left hook upstairs that sent Kotey the canvas. The Ghanaian appeared on rubbery legs but was permitted to continue. Saunders finished him off moments later, with a body shot left hook that put down Kotey for the full count.

With the win, Sanders moves on to the round of 16, where he faces a familiar foe in Alexis Vastine of France. The two squared off at the World Championships last October in Chicago, with Saunders scoring an upset win at the competition. Saunders also defeated Javier Molina in the same competition.

Unlike Molina, Vastine now has a chance to avenge the loss. He qualified for the next round of the Olympics after easily turning back the challenge of Lithuanian light welterweight Egidijus Kavaliauskas by score of 13-2.

The remaining balance of the opening round welterweight bouts was top heavy, with plenty of returning participants as well as heavily favored American medal hopeful Demetrius Andrade taking center stage.

Andrade drew a favorable matchup in the opening round, but had a surprisingly tough go of things in barely outlasting Kakhabar Zhvania of the Republic of Georgia.

Things got off to a slow start before Andrade scored the first point of the fight well over a minute into the opening round. The American led 2-0 after one, before Zhvania fought on even terms in the second, doing a good job of landing and immediately getting out of harm’s way, at least on the occasions where the Georgian initiated the offense. The game plan seemed more centered on smothering Andrade in keeping the score as low as possible.

It worked for the second round, but Andrade scored three straight points in the opening 30 second of the third round. Zhvania responded with two of his own to prevent it from becoming a rout, but was hurt midway through the round after taking a pair of body shots.

Andrade entered the final round with a seemingly comfortable 10-6 lead, but Zhvania’s awkward style proved to be effective – and difficult for Andrade to solve over the final two minutes. It was the lone round in which Zhvania outscored the American (3-1), but not enough to pull off the upset as Andrade prevailed 11-9.

The 20-year old welterweight prodigy pulls a tough draw in the Sweet 16, as he takes on 32-year old Andrey Balanov of Russia. Despite his advanced age, Balanov is a first-time Olympian, keeping his dream alive thanks to a 8-5 victory over Mujandjae Kasuto of Nambia.

In and out movement was the key to victory for Balanov, who scored half of his eight total points in the first 90 seconds of the bout. The aggressive Kasuto never stopped coming forward, boasting a style that figures to translate well if and when he decides to turn pro. In Beijing, it was only good enough to keep pace with the Russian, never getting closer than a 4-4 tie late in round two before falling and staying behind over the final four minutes.

Three previous Olympic contestants performed in early welterweight action, but only one will move on to the round of 16. Bakhyy Sarsekbayev of Kazakhstan made surprisingly easy work of 2004 Olympian Adam Trupish of Canada, winning 20-1. It’s the second straight opening round exit for Trupish, the lone representative for the Canadian Olympic boxing squad.

Sarsekbayev was the aggressor throughout in manhandling the Canadian. His pro-friendly style could potentially clash with that of the more mobile Vitaly Grusac of Moldova. Grusac, a bronze medalist in the 2000 Games in Sydney, turned back the challenge of 2004 Australian Olympian Gerard Mahony, winning by score of 7-2 in a fight that wasn’t very easy on the eyes.

Like Trupish, Mahony now has two Olympic tours under his belt, though failing to win a single match in either competition.

Dilshod Mahmudov of Uzbekistan had a more successful run than both Trupish and Mahony in the 2004 Olympics, advancing to the round of 16 before losing to Yodel Johnson Cedeno. He once again moves on to the next round after his 11-3 victoy over Mehdi Khalsi of Morocco.

Mahmudov will face Jaoid Chiguer of France next Sunday for the right to move on the quarterfinals. Chiguer’s first ever Olympic bout was far easier than expected, blowing past Turkmenistan’s lone boxing participant Aliasker Bashirov by score of 17-6.

Former two-time pro world champion Julian Jackson saw his older son Julius get manhandled in the opening round of light heavyweight competition. His 19-year old son John Jackson had a much better go of things, scoring a minor upset for the Virgin Islands boxing squad with a 4-2 win over Magomed Nurutdinov of Belarus.

As was the case with most of the bouts to date, the scoring didn’t quite jive with the action that took place in the ring, as far more clean punches were landed. But the right guy won in the end, as Jackson was a little too sharp and crisp with his shots.

He will next face Kim Jung-Joo of Korea, who prevailed in a controversial tiebreaker over Jack Culcay-Keth of Germany. It was only fitting that the final bout of Sunday’s boxing action was the most competitive, with several lead changes taking place, and neither fighter ever up by more than two points throughout.

Jung-Joo had a small lead late in the fourth, only for Culcay-Keth, aggressive throughout, to even things up with about 30 seconds left. The German was repeatedly warned for charging in with his head, perhaps detracting from key scoring opportunities that could’ve been the difference on the cards. Instead, he fought to a tie, before Jung-Joo was awared the victory by virtue of landing what was determined to be more meaningful blows.

The round of 16 for light welterweight and welterweight will resume next Sunday, August 17.

For complete Boxingscene.com Olympic boxing coverage, check out the following links:

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

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

Complete Scoreboard Thru 8/10: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15337

Report Card – Javier Molina: coming late Sunday evening/early Monday AM

Report Card – Demetrius Andrade: coming late Sunday evening/early Monday AM

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