Americas Qualifier

[emile]

Wow, Emilio Correa DQ'd in the first round of his first fight! One down for Cuba.

[lap]

Wow, Emilio Correa DQ'd in the first round of his first fight! One down for Cuba.

... And Canada's luck continues.

Brody Blair now needs only to beat Castillo to go to London... though maybe it would have been easier to lose to Correa and hope to get in as a luck loser.

[mike222]

The Mexican lightflyweight Velasquez is the 2011 Pan Am Games gold medallist and is world ranked.He is probably now the favourite for gold here.
I remember the cuban from the 2008 Olympics-he can be a bruiser-ask James Degale.

[emile]

Day 3 complete, and Cuba loses another fighter - with Despaigne losing, not unexpectedly, to Myke Carvalho. Cuba has now lost more fighters than Canada, who put 9 of 10 through!

Ecuador is doing the best - sending a fighter through to the quarterfinal in all 10 weights. Things are going to get a lot harder for them tomorrow though.

US doing well as well, having lost only Santos Vasquez.

EDIT - hmm Day 3 not complete, they just neglected to put the super heavyweights on the schedule. They also had Javier Molina fighting, which really confused for a bit (it was Oscar Molina of Mexico)

EDIT 2 - Now it's over, and it ends with Dominic Breazale beating Jose Payares 12-10. Nice win for Breazale, who maybe can really grow into this sport. Next for him is the Brazilian oldtimer Gidelson Oliveira. Great day for the US.

[toddh5220]

WOW Dominic Brazeale beat Payares, I guess even AIBA officials can be bought off by Michael King. I've seen this kid box many times before and he doesn't get stronger as the bout goes on yet the judges have him out pointing Payares 7-2 in the third? The same Payares who took Cam Thompson apart. This is bad really really bad, I wish I could see the video.

[mike222]

Despaignes loss doesnt surprise me or anyone else really.In the four qualifiers prior to this one there were 90 bouts involving the host nation and 81 were won by the hosts.A percentage of 90% which is extraordinary.
Kudos to Breazale he learns from his mistakes and improves with every fight just like Anthony Joshua.He lost to Laron Mitchell and hasnt lost since but beating a Brazilian in Brazil is a tough ask for anyone.I would ask USAB officials to watch this bout and let everybody know they are watching.

[emile]

Carlos Suarez, teenager from Lima Ohio and fighting for T&T has beaten Enoc Hualinga of Peru to make the semis at 49kg. The Americas also gets an invitational bid at this weight - does anyone have guesses what criteria they will use? If its best performer from a country with no other representatives at the Olympics, then Suarez might make it in no matter what happens the rest of the way.

[emile]

Another excellent day for the US, as Browne and Herring qualified for the Olympics and Hunter won as expected.

Qualifications today by country: USA 2, Brazil 2, Colombia 1, Dominican Rep 1, Argentina 1, Mexico 1, Cuba 1, Puerto Rico 1, Nicaragua 1, Ecuador 1

No major surprises, except perhaps at heavyweight, where Samir El-Mais of Canada beat Julio Deivis of Colombia and Yamir Peralta of Argentina beat Edgar Munoz of Venezuela. El-Mais and Peralta now face off for a spot (El-Mais already beat Peralta at the world champs in Baku). Mike Hunter will next face Ecuador's Julio Castillo who beat the Brazilian. Despite mike's concern, there doesn't seem to be any clear bias for the home fighters - Brazil has lost two entrants, neither of whom looked all that great on paper.

[mike222]

The twelve boxers who have qualified so far are
123LBS
William Encarnacion Dominica
Alberto Melian Argentina
Robenilson De Jesus Brazil
Oscar Valdez Mexico
141LBS
Cesar Villaraga Colombia
Rosniel Iglesias Cuba
Francisco Vargas Puerto Rico
Jamel Herring United States
178LBS
Osman Bravo Nicuaragua
Yamaguchi Falcao Brazil
Carlos Congora Ecuador
Marcus Browne United States
Total Qualifiers including those already there are
Brazil 5
Colombia 2
Cuba 8
United States 5
Dominica 1
Ecuador 1
Nicuaraga 1
Puerto Rico 1
Mexico 1
Argentina 1

[mike222]

Some more qualifiers for London
152LBS
Oscar Molina Mexico
Gabriel Maestre Venezuela
Carlos Sanchez Ecuador
Myke Carvalho Brazil
132LBS
Jose Ramirez United States
Wellington Arias Dominica
Felix Verdeju Puerto Rico
Edward Marriaga Colombia

[emile]

Arias is from the Dominican Republic. Dominica is not getting any boxers in except by invite any time soon, but bless them for their efforts.

Some fights that seemed like upsets to me today. Dagoberto Aguero lost to Jose Luis Meza at 52, and I thought Aguero was a big rising star. DR got one back with Arias at 60 though, who beat Luis Porozo, who I also thought was a rising star. Eddie Valenzuela of Guatemala won against Braulio Avila, meaning both of my 52 picks are out. Valenzuela goes up against Jeyvier Cintron, who just turned 17, for a spot.

Gausha in the ring now....and Gausha wins easily 16-5 to become the fourth USA boxer qualified in this tournament and 7th overall.

[mike222]

Middleweight Qualifiers for London
Terrell Gausha United States
Jose Espinoza Venezuela
Junior Castillo Dominica
Mario Delgado Ecuador
Simon Kean and Dominic Breazale both won their quarter-finals
24 of the 38 spots now filled

[T Duquette]

USA is tearin it up

[mike222]

It makes you think what medals the USA could have got at the Pan Am games if they had sent a full strength team.It is important as those games influence the AIBA seedings for the Olympics.

[lap]

Not unexpectedly, Canada's great run came to a screeching halt in the quarters. Not having Barbados and Bolivia to kick around anymore will do that.

Still, Yves Ulysse and Brody Blair's defeats sting a little. They looked like winable fights. Thank god Samir El Mais upset (was is a real upset?) the Colombian Deivis or Canada would have had to pin its hopes solely on lucky losers.

[emile]

It makes you think what medals the USA could have got at the Pan Am games if they had sent a full strength team.It is important as those games influence the AIBA seedings for the Olympics.

Mike, has AIBA released their draw plan for the Olympics? Will it be the top 8 again, like the World Championships?

[mike222]

The Olympics is a much smaller competition than the Worlds so I guess the maximum number of seeds will remain at 8.However I cant take them serious they have Zou Shiming,Lomachenko and Usyk ranked at number three.
Tomorrows draw for the Women will be interesting as they have some weird placings.Claressa Shields is only ranked ninth despite beating two higher ranked boxers in the Pan Ams and thats not the only strange ranking.

[JMac]

The Olympics is a much smaller competition than the Worlds so I guess the maximum number of seeds will remain at 8.However I cant take them serious they have Zou Shiming,Lomachenko and Usyk ranked at number three.
Tomorrows draw for the Women will be interesting as they have some weird placings.Claressa Shields is only ranked ninth despite beating two higher ranked boxers in the Pan Ams and thats not the only strange ranking.

AIBA pull something shady...come on Mike, you know that would never happen.

[emile]

The live video window is open now on AIBA's website. Fights start at 2pm EST - wonder how many walkovers we'll see?

[emile]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmMHA0vu ... r_embedded

[mike222]

Four more boxers qualified this afternoon
108LBS
Jantony Ortiz PUR
Carlos Quipo ECU
201LBS
Michael Hunter USA
Yamil Peralta ARG
In addition to Hunter Terrell Gausha won and makes the final but Jamal Herring and Samir El-Mais lost their semis

[mike222]

The two qualifiers at 114 are Jeyvier Cintron of Puerto Rico and Brazilian Juliao Neto.Jose Ramirez just lost his semi 10-13 to Wellington Arias

[emile]

With Breazeale coming from behind in round 3 to win, the USA ends up with 9 qualifiers. That's more than Russia, Cuba, Italy, Great Britain, and China, and the same as Kazakhstan.

[mike222]

But not as many as Australia who have ten qualifiers.
Finals tomorrow
108 J Ortiz PUR v C Quipo ECU
114 J Neto BRA v J Cintron PUR
123 A Melian ARG v O Valdez MEX
132 F Verdeju PUR v W Arias DOM
141 R Iglesias CUB v F Vargas PUR
152 O Molina MEX v M Carvalho BRA
165 T Gausha USA v J Castillo DOM
178 Y Falcao BRA v M Browne USA
201 Y Peralta ARG v M Hunter USA
+201 I Perea ECU v D Breazale USA
Wasnt Molina eligible for the US as his brother Javier was?
A bit like the pros with Mexico and Puerto Rico strong at the lighterweights with the US stronger at the heavier.

[T Duquette]

Im surprised Ramirez lost. Was it a close fight?

I saw Jamel and Marcus Brown. I thought Jamel landed more punches than they gave him credit for and Marcus Brown looked excellent.

Its awesome to see that we have so many people qualified. Hopefully this team will turn things around for the USA in London.