2012 Olympic Boxing results - Anthony Joshua Makes His Grand Entrance & more...
By SecondsOut, special to Doghouse Boxing (Aug 2, 2012) Doghouse Boxing
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By SecondsOut.com on Doghouse Boxing. The evening session of the fifth day of competition at the London
2012 Olympic Games saw the Bantam (56kg), Heavy (91kg) and Super
Heavyweights (91+kg) once again take to the ring at the ExCeL arena
where the atmosphere was absolutely electric.
With the great Lennox Lewis, gold medallist at the 1988 Seoul
Olympic Games, and Evander Holyfield in the crowd, Great Britain’s third
seeded Bantamweight (56kg) Luke Campbell, the AIBA World Boxing Championships Baku 2011 silver medallist, opened up proceedings against the experienced 28-year-old Jahyn Vittorio Parrinello.
There was a huge expectation from the crowd that the home boxer would
be able to impose his style but the Italian was proving more than a
match for him. The 25-year-old British southpaw was looking to make his
height advantage count in the opening round but could not get that
breakthrough and the points were shared in that one. Once the nerves of
the Brit had settled, he composed himself to land some good shots to
edge the second round by two points. Parrinello came back strong but
Campbell stood firm to close out the contest and win 11:9.
On his opponent, Campbell told the media, "I know him well, he
is tough operator. I beat him in the quarter-finals at the World
Championships in Baku so I knew what to expect". When asked about the
atmosphere at the ExCeL, he declared, "Well, I had about fifty members
of my family there, then I heard just before coming out that Lennox was
watching and with the massive crowd cheering me on I felt the pressure.
The atmosphere was unbelievable but I am happy to have got that fight
out of the way now".
2009 AIBA World Champion Detelin Dalakliev of Bulgaria, seeded sixth in the Bantamweight (56kg) draw, was pushed all the way by Australian 21-year-old Ibrahim Dalla.
The two fighters were equally matched in the first two rounds with
Balla impressing with his positive approach. The experienced Dalakliev
showcased his quality shot making in the final round, throwing a
sumptuous uppercut then a penetrating one-two combination that hurt his
opponent as he made sure of his presence in the quarter-finals with a
14:10 victory.
25-year-old Algerian Mohamed Amine Ouadahi looked good in the opening round of his fight against William Encarnacion Alcantara of the Dominican Republic, moving well and landing a couple of
exquisite punches with the left hook his weapon of choice. In the
second, he was matched by his opponent and after letting his guard drop,
was caught with a good right, but Ouadahi kept his composure and came
back to edge this round as well. Experience told as the 2011 African
Championships winner went on to win 16:10.
Magomed Abdulhamidov versus Satoshi Shimizu in the last Bantamweight (56kg) contest of the evening went to appeal and the Japanese was awarded the victory on review.
Heavyweight (91kg) rising star, 19-year-old Teymur Mammadov of Azerbaijan struggled to get to grips with Jai Tapu Opetaia in the first two rounds. The Australian was the youngest boxer at these
Olympic Games, at just 17 years of age, and was inspired against the
third seed in the draw, pushing him all the way. But in the end it was
the Azeri who prevailed 12:11. Opetaia was distraught after his loss but
he will be back.
Belarusian Siarhei Karneyeu began his bout with Julio Torres Castillo in extraordinary fashion, flying out of the blocks and unleashing a
flurry of combination punches to completely overpower the Ecuadorian in
the first round. Karneyeu, a bronze medallist at the 2011 AIBA World
Boxing Championships, boxed clever in the remaining two rounds,
cornering his opponent before hurting him with some good variations of
uppercuts and hooks to claim a 21:12 victory. The 23-year-old from
Belarus will now face Mammadov for a place in the semi-finals.
After taking the first round, Ali Mazaheri from Iran was warned three times for persistent fouling and was subsequently disqualified from his contest against Cuban Jose Larduet Gomez.
It was Super Heavyweight (91+kg) next as the giant Kazak Ivan Dychko took to the ring versus Erik Pfeifer from Germany. In the end it was very one-sided as the imposing Dychko
gave nothing away, using his height but also his excellent technique to
land several punishing uppercuts in rounds two and three. The
21-year-old AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medallist from
Kazakhstan was just too good on the night and won in style 14:4.
Orthodox Frenchman Tony Yoka, 2010 Youth Olympic gold medallist, looked inspired coming into his fight against Simon Kean from Canada, using that stinging jab of his and moving nimbly across
the canvas before unleashing a couple of lightening quick one-two
combinations to take the first round. The Canadian 23-year-old came back
more positive in the second, roughing up his rival by moving in to
fight up close, throwing some thunderous straight rights to completely
turn the tide in the bout. With Kean now ahead on points coming into the
third, he repeated his tactic of getting in Yoka’s face but the French
20-year-old held firm to draw level. However on count-back the victory
was awarded to the Canadian who will now face Dychko in the
quarter-finals.
2008 Beijing Olympic Games silver medallist Zhilei Zhang from China made his experience count as he battled past Australian Johan Linde in style, taking the first round by a clear five points. In the second
the gifted Chinese 29-year-old threw an unstoppable right hook that sent
Linde to the canvas and after recovering in time from the eight count,
the referee stopped the contest with the Australian unsteady on his
feet.
The crowd were up on their feet as the MC announced the final bout of the evening between Great Britain’s Anthony Joshua and Erislandy Savon of Cuba, the nephew of three-time Olympic boxing gold medallist Felix
Savon. Second seed Joshua, 22, began on the front foot, dictating the
tempo from the centre of the ring, using the jab before letting fly with
those sumptuous hooks of his. The Brit had a slight height advantage
but Savon was moving extremely well, light on his feet, looking to score
vital points with well-placed shots. The great British hope’s straight
right was however repeatedly piercing through the Cuban’s guard but
Joshua just did enough to edge it 17:16 after a tense final round.
The British Super Heavyweight (91+kg) declared after the fight,
"It was tough, it was the first time I fought a Cuban. He was unlike
anyone I had boxed before, a great mover, elusive and completely
different to any style I had faced". On the atmosphere, "In the ring,
you are in the zone and you have a different perspective than from the
outside so when I am fighting, it is just me and my opponent, only
afterwards did I notice the crowd".
Tomorrow sees the second round of preliminaries for the
Lightweights (60kg) with Ukraine’s Lomachenko scheduled to begin his
assault of the Olympic title. The Middleweights (75kg) will also be in
action
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This article provided by SecondsOut.com to Doghouse Boxing.
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