Shiming Zou still the one to beat after win
Twelve sensational bouts lit up the ExCeL arena on the eighth day of competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games. There were three weight categories on show during the afternoon session with the Light Flyweights (46-49kg), Light Welterweights (64kg) and Light Heavyweights (81kg) all taking to the ring.
What a way to begin proceedings, with the reigning Olympic Light Flyweight (46-49kg) Champion Shiming Zou up against the Cuban sensation Yosbany Veitia Soto. The Chinese 31-year-old orthodox fighter made his experience count in the first round with some clever counter-punches, drawing in the young Veitia Soto before throwing some stiff jabs and some good one-twos to edge it. It was more of the same in the second as Zou stuck to his clever game plan to once again out point the 20-year-old. The three-time AIBA World Champion from China impressed as he won the contest 14:11.
Diminutive Filipino Mark Barriga, who was so exciting in his first bout, faced the orthodox Kazak Birzhan Zhakypov in the second contest of the day. The young Barriga started brightly, looking to connect with the uppercut and the big overhead. Zhakypov was using his big height and reach advantage to good effect as he constantly repelled the attacks of the teenager from the Philippines to take the first round. In the second, those exact shots were now piercing through the defenses of the Kazak with a crisp right uppercut the highlight of the round. The Filipino southpaw came in to the final round with a point advantage and continued to be bright, mixing up his shots and landing some good punches but Zhakypov was strong, using his know-how to connect with some clean counter-punches. As the teenager tired with a couple of minutes to go, the Kazak pounced and threw a huge amount of connecting blows to overturn his deficit and record a hard-fought 17:16 victory. It is Zou next for Zhakypov.
The Kazak declared afterwards, “Barriga was very tough. I did not expect him to come back like he did in the second but my plan all along was to go hard in the final round”. On meeting Zou, he said, “The last time I faced him, I lost. I am confident though that now is my time”.
2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medalist Paddy Barnes from Ireland really entertained the partisan crowd in his contest versus Cameroon’s Thomas Essomba, throwing several four-five punch combinations as he looked to stamp his authority on proceedings early on. The young African orthodox was by no means willing to give the initiative to the experienced Irishman, catching him with some good shots in both the first and the second. Each time however, the savvy Barnes came back to outpoint him. Trailing coming into the third, Essomba had to take the fight to his opponent and 25-year-old Barnes was happy to pick him off on the counter. Ireland’s big medal hope looked good as he triumphed 15:10 and moved into the quarter-finals.
The Irishman stated after the win, “It is only my first fight. I am just glad to have won. He was a good opponent for me to ease into the tournament with. The long wait has been desperate. The best is yet to come”.
The first of the Men’s Light Welterweight (64kg) bouts saw the current versus the former AIBA World Champion as Brazil’s Everton dos Santos Lopes faced Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo. In the battle of the southpaws, it was the taller Cuban’s reach which made the difference as the jab and the straight one-two scored vital early points to take the first round. Dos Santos Lopes tried to move inside in the second in order to catch his rival with the left hook and some uppercuts but the Cuban’s agility and speed were not allowing him to get into any kind of rhythm and Iglesias Sotolongo kept on landing those straights. The Brazilian 20-year-old battled hard in the third to win the round but the impressive Iglesias Sotolongo had done enough to take the overall victory 18:15.
“This is the fifth time we have met so we know each other’s style very well. He is one of the best boxers in this category so I am delighted to have defeated him at the Olympics. For me it is a privilege to stand in the ring with him. It was a very tough fight”.
Uzbek southpaw Uktamjon Rahmonov started on the front foot against Yakup Sener, using the jab, then the one-twos before looking to strike with the uppercuts. The orthodox Turk kept his defences tight, looking to move inside to attack with some quick hooks of his own. It was a real clash of styles but made for very interesting viewing as the points were shared in a high scoring first round. The script in the second looked like it would be the same with Sener showing good movement early to stay out of the way of the tall Uzbek’s vicious punches but Rahmonov began landing more and more of his punches in that second round, wearing down his opponent. One thunderous right hook sent Sener to the canvas and from there he scored heavily. It was more or less one way traffic in the final round as Sener ran out of ideas on how to deal with Rahmonov who went on to win convincingly 16:8. The Uzbek now faces the impressive Iglesias Sotolongo for a place in the semi-finals.
In the third Light Welterweight (64kg) bout, Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan quickly took control against Mehdi Toloutibandpi, throwing some powerful connection right hands that landed flush on the jaw of the Iranian, as he took the first round with relative ease. The second saw a more positive Toloutibandpi but the Kazak orthodox’s counter-punches seemed to be even more lethal as he caught his onrushing opponent several times to extend his lead to seven points going into the final round. Yeleussinov looked a class above his rival in the third as he let fly with an array of punches, showing an excellent variation and perfect shot selection on his way to a resounding 19.10 victory.
Tough Vincenzo Mangiacapre from Italy showed his credentials as a medal candidate after a sublime performance against Hungary’s Gyula Kate, throwing a huge left hand midway through the first round that had the Hungarian orthodox taking a standing eight count. The taller Kate tried to take the fight to his opponent in the second but the Italian is robust and was content to duck and weave before throwing some stinging shots of his own to edge the round. The class of Mangiacapre was evident as this confident display saw him progress 20:14 to face Yeleussinov in the quarter-finals.
“I have been here for ten days already and have only been practicing so I needed to release all this energy I have. He was a very good opponent, so I think I did well”, shared Mangiacapre afterwards.
Cuban Team Captain Julio la Cruz Peralta was just on another level on his debut in the competition, displaying awesome footwork, a great selection of punches and above all sensational power as he completely dominated Jordan’s Ihab Almatbouli in the first two rounds. It was a brave showing by the Jordanian orthodox fighter, who made history by becoming the first ever boxer from his country to compete at the Olympic Games, as he continued to look for openings. La Cruz Peralta’s sheer class was just too much though, effortlessly gliding across the canvas, gloves by his waist but scoring at will with some sublime punches. Almatbouli, watched by members of the Jordanian Royal Family, was helpless but gracious as he was defeated 25:8. There was huge respect between the two fighters and the humility of la Cruz Peralta ensured he got a whole new legion of admirers after that display.
It was a pretty even contest between stocky Brazilian Yamaguchi Falcao Florentino and rangy Fanlong Meng. The Chinese took the first round by keeping his distance and using the jab before Falcao Florentino took the second by effectively moving inside and throwing combinations of hooks and uppercuts. Now tied on points, the third round was fast and furious, with both throwing everything they had at each other. In the end, with the score still equal at 17:17, it went to count-back and the Brazilian was awarded the victory to set up a quarter-final showdown with la Cruz Peralta.
The penultimate contest of the afternoon session saw Tunisia’s Yahia Elmekachari, who had looked good in his first fight, come up against the talented southpaw Elshod Rasulov. It was the fifth seeded Uzbek who dominated in this one, with height and reach once again favoring him. AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medalist Rasulov was highly effective in each round as he triumphed in style 13:6.
Egor Mekhontcev then looked to dictate the opening exchanges of his bout against the elusive and fast moving Australian Damien Hooper. The Russian southpaw, seeded fourth in the draw, knew that he had to tame the unpredictable unorthodox style of Hooper to take the victory. The game plan seemed to be to constantly hound him down with a succession of straight one-twos and the tactic worked perfectly in the first two rounds with the young Australian unable not cope with the sheer amount of punches that we were being thrown in his direction. In the third, those straights from the Russian were cutting through Hooper’s defenses at will, with one particular combination hurting the Australian. Mekhontcev was in fine form and won 19:11.
The evening session will see another twelve bouts in the Light Flyweights (46-49kg), Light Welterweights (64kg) and Light Heavyweights (81kg) categories, with the winners all moving into the quarter-finals.
