Light Flyweight / 49 kg.
Mansueto VELASCO (PHI), younger brother of Roel VELASCO, a bronze medalist at the 1992 Games, won his quarterfinal bout Tuesday night to assure another Olympic medalist in the family. VELASCO took an early lead of 2-0 before HAMILI came back to take the lead 3-2. VELASCO and HAMILI fought to even terms at 5-5 in the second round before VELASCO took control of the fight with a flurry of lefts and rights to take an 8-5 lead midway through the second round. VELASCO ended the round ahead 11-8 after dishing out a pair of standing eight counts to the startled BERHILI. In the third round VEALSCO asserted himself once more as the southpaw landed numerous lefts and rights to take a 20-10 decision.
VELASCO will meet Spain's Rafael LOZANO who defeated Lamasara LAPAINI from Indonesia 10-9.
LOZANO (ESP): "I thought I was going to lose the fight because I was penalized," said LOZANO. "It was a really hard fight. At the opening, I was waiting for him instead of attacking because I knew he was going to attack."
Vichairachanon KHADPO (PHI), ranked number one in the world, is one step closer to the gold medal as he will advance to the semifinals following a win over Hicham NAFIL of Morocco.13-4.
KHADPO took a 3-1 lead after the first round of his bout and never let up. KHADPO extended the lead to 9-2 after the two rounds, landing a variety of blows.
KHADPO will meet Istvan KOVACS from Hungary who was a bronze medalist in the flyweight class at the 1992 Games. KOVACS defeated Crinnu OLTEANU from Romania, 24-2.
"This was a very tough fight for me," said KOVACS. "Now that I am in the finals, I will be more relaxed and try to win more. I had very much encouragement from the Hungarian people. They gave me strength and courage to win."
Leonard DOROFTEI from Romania advanced to the lightweight semifinals as he defeated Koba GOGOLADZE from Georgia. In the first round, the southpaw GOGOLADZE used a combination to score the first two points. DOROFTEI, however managed to move ahead of the Georgian, taking the first-round lead at 5-3. GOGOLADZE refused to let DOROFTEI run away with the bout and got as close as one point in the second round. DOROFTEI threw combinations but still could not catch the Georgian's 9-7 lead. DOROFTEI dominated the third bout to take the match, 17-8.
DOROFTEI will meet Hoeina SOLTANIA from Algeria in the semifinals. SOLTANI defeated Eun Chin SHIN from Korea, 16-10.
"I never tried to take him with the knockout punch, but I score points and win the fight," said SOLTANIA."
Russia's Oleg SAITOV and Uzbekistan's Mairman ATAYEV advanced to the welterweight semifinal round. The two boxers will meet on Thursday 1 August at 20:00.
"My internal belief I would win, not in victory but in myself," said SIATOV.
Cuba's Ariel HERNANDEZ, defending Olympic champion and gold medalist at both the Pan American Games and world championships, will advance to the semifinals. HERNANDEZdefeated Alexander LEBZIAK from Russia 15-8. HERNANDEZ will meet USA's Roshii WELLS who defeated Uzbekistan's Dilshood YARBEKOV 49-45 in a tiebreaker.
"I have a big heart," said WELLS. "I'll get hurt, knocked down and somehow, I don't know, I dig it out and keep throwing punches. I don't know where I get it from - - maybe I get from my parents. I just get up and keep coming back nd throwing punches. I have a big heart. I never give up."
Cuba's Felix SAVON defending Olympic gold medalist and champion at both the Pan-American Games and 1995 Wolrd Championships easily defeated Georgia's Giorgo KADELAKI 20-4. He will face world silver medalist Luan KRASNIQI of Germany in the semifinals. KRASNIQI defeated Serguei DYCHKOV of Belarus. 10-5.
"I need to throw long punches and be concentrating and not just step in there and see what happens," said KRASNIQI.
After a day of rest on Monday, all of the boxers came out fighting as the Olympic quarterfinals began Tuesday. The light flyweights started the day with Bulgaria's Daniel Petrov BOJILOV, the reigning world champion and ranked number one in the world, facing Thailand's fourth-ranked Somrot KAMSING.
BOJILOV landed the first blow of the afternoon with a right cross, and ended the round with a 3-2 lead. In the second round, KAMSING tied the score with a strong left hook, but BOJILOV regained the lead with less than a minute remaining in the round. In the third, with the score 9-6, BOJILOV knocked KAMSING to the canvas with a left hook. KAMSING returned to his feet for a standing eight count, but received another standing eight with 30 seconds remaining in the match after BOJILOV rocked the Thai with another right cross. BOJILOV went on to win the bout, 18-6.
The second bout of the day featured Pan-American bronze medalist Albert GUARDADO (USA). against Oleg KIRYUKHIN (UKR). The score remained close throughout the entire match with GUARDADO landing the first punch for the early lead. KIRYUKHIN came back and took a 4-3 lead before GUARDADO answered with a left hook to tie the score at six when the bell rang to end he first round. In the second KIRYUKHIN led by as many as 3 points to lead at the end of the second, 13-10. A minute into the third, KIRYUKHIN increased his lead to 4 points as he nailed GUARDADO with a right uppercut. GUARDADO came back with two rights to make it 14-12 and drew as close as 15-14. But in the last minute, KIRYUKHIN took a 16-14 lead as the bout ended to advance to the semifinals.
BOJILOV and KIRYUKHIN will face each other in the semifinals on Thursday 1 August at 20:00.
"I didn't have a strategy. It all came out in the fight, said KIRYUKHIN (UKR):."In the second round I thought he was going to get back, but he came forward and that gave me openings."
The gold medalist at the world championships and ranked seventh in the world, Russia's Raimkul MALAKBEKOV continued his journey toward the gold medal as he easily defeated Davaatseren JAMGAN of Mongolia, 21-9. JAMGAN managed to land the first punch, a left, with only 15 seconds elapsed in the first round. It would be his only score for the round as the southpaw MALAKBEKOV scored six unanswered points with his fancy combinations to lead 6-1. In the second round, MALAKBEKOV stayed well ahead of JAMGAN and ended the second round with a 15-6 lead. In the third round, JAMGAN added 2 points to his tally but MALAKBEKOV continued to score to advance to the semifinal round.
Also advancing to the semifinals, Cuba's Arnaldo MESA defeated Rachid BOUAITA from France,15-8.
MALAKBEKOV and BOUAITA will meet in the semifinals on Thursday 1 August at 20:00.
"I had the same strategy from beginning to end - - to attack," MALAKBEKOV (RUS). "I was attacking my opponent more because he gave me more opportunities."
Michael STRANGE from Canada, a bronze medalist at the world championships, was upset Tuesday as he was beaten 16-10 by Tontcho TONTCHEV from Bulgaria. TONTCHEV jumped on top of STRANGE from the beginning, connecting with two rights in the first 15 seconds to take the lead. The Bulgarian landed two more rights to stretch his lead to 4-0. The score at the end of the first round was 6-0 in favor of TONTCHEV. STRANGE scored his first point late in the second round with a right cross. The Canadian landed three more rights to trim the Bulgarian's lead. In the third round, TONTCHEV jumped ahead 8-5 and continued to widen his lead to end the bout with a 16-10 victory.
The other boxer advancing to the semifinals is Terrance CAUTHEN (USA) who defeated his opponent Veongviact PHONGSIT from Thailand, 14-10. CAUTHEN and TONTCHEV will meet each other in the semifinals on 1 August at 20:00.
"I'm not happy yet...it's not over," said CAUTHEN. "I still feel the same as my first fight. I am not settling for the bronze."
The welterweight quarterfinals showcased Juan HERNANDEZ, reigning world champion from Cuba, against 5th-ranked Nurzhan SMANOV from Kazakstan. Both boxers started out slowly, circling one another, each to figure out the other's strategy. The southpaw Cuban closed out the round scoring with two lefts and a right hook to end the round on top, 5-2. SMANOV trimmed the score to 5-3 when he scored with a strong left in the opening moments of round two. HERNANDEZ then scored four straight unanswered points to take the lead to 9-3. But then SMANOV went on a rum of his own trimming the score to 10-8 to end the second round. In the third round HERNANDEZ dominated SMANOV shutting him out for a 16-8 victory, and assuring himself of at lest a bronze medal.
HERNANDEZ will face Marian SIMION from Romania in the semifinals. SIMION advanced to the semifinals by defeating Hasan AL of Denmark ,16-8.
"I wanted to use a hit and run tactic," said SIMION. "That was my strategy. It worked, to hit with my right and run."
Tomasz BOROWSKI of Poland, a silver medalist from the 1995 World Championships and ranked number 6 in the world, was upset Tuesday by Turkey's Malik BEYLEROGLU. BEYLEROGLU landed a right hook to open the scoring in the first round. BOROWSKI tied him twice before BEYLEROGLU ended the round with a 3-2 lead. In the second round, BEYLEROGLU came out quickly, scoring with a left hook. BEYLEROGLU dominated the action as he stretched his lead to 13-7 at the bell. In the third round, BEYLEROGLU tried to protect his lead. BOROWSKI cornered BEYLEROGLU against the ropes and landed a swift left to trim the deficit to 13-10 , and give BEYLEROGLU a standing eight count with 1:34 left in the bout. BOROWSKI was unable to get any closer as BEYLEROGLU continued to retreat the remainder of the round, winning 16-12.
BEYLEROGLU will meet Mohamed BAHARI of Algeria who defeated Brin MAGEE (CAN) 15-9.
"With all the training I have done, I was very determined to win the medal today," said BAHARI (ALG). "I was sure I would win today." (Why?) "God and all my energy."
Canada's David DEFIAGBON defeated world championships bronze medalist and No. 2 ranked Christophe MENDY of France when MENDY was disqualified for throwing a low blow at 1:01 of the third round. DEFIAGBON was leading 10-9 at the time. After the decision was announced, an visibly enraged MENDY immediately lodged a protest. If the protest is denied DEFIAGBON is assured of receiving at least a bronze medal.
DEFIAGBON is scheduled to meet Nate JONES (USA) in the semifinals. JONES defeated his Tao JIANG of China 21-4 to advance Thursday's semifinal..
"I'm very upset," said MENDY. "Why haven't they been using the video cameras correctly? I've been working for this (the Olympics) for years. I've sacrificed six years of my life for this. This is sacrilegious."
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