Well I got my prediction that at least 5 U.S. boxers would get qualified for the Olympics during the Worlds in Chicago. If Hunter somehow wins two more bouts, then we would have 6.
Cuba would still have at least 5 boxers in the tourney. They aren't as strong as they have in the past and the defections and attempted defections have weakened their Olympic team. I think Cuba would still be one of the top 5 countries. Russia is stronger, but beyond that I'm not sure.
I was there and almost ringside. Demtrius just outclassed his oppenent and the two exchange words after the fight. It was great. Andrade was too fast and slick. Hunter shows some weakness. Standing still and taking some shots and also dropping his hands. The scoring in his fight should have been closer. The Iranian clearly landed 5-6 blows that werent counted. That being said , Timurizev made such easy work of hi guy. It was pathetic. The guy was scared. His punches flow so fast and smooth and hes got really great power. It would be great if Hunter can win, but Timurezv will time him and I think Hunter might lose. But Never count out a American !
Dennis, I did not get a chance to see the Russians in the lower weight classes. From what I heard both Russel and Warren can do good. I think Andrade can medal now, he beat the #1 Ranked guy at his weight. The guy from Thailand might cause him problems, since he beat the Russian at 69 Kg. Hooomaya or seomthing is his name. Some intresting things going to happen.
I think Yanez wins his next fight and makes it to the semis. I think he will probably win that one setting up a tough bout against Zou Shiming in the finals.
Williams gets a Russian also. I could see Ray winning this one and maybe winning the whole tourney. I hope he does it. This next bout is a tough one though, but he is already qualified for the Olympics. Now he is just trying to win a gold medal.
Another good day in Chicago. Maybe not quite as enjoyable as yesterday, but still some good fights. The crowds are split as you would expect - the Asians show up for the low weights and then the Europeans crowd in for the evenings. Yesterday it was Koreans, today a bunch of Filipinos showed up for Tanamor's fight and there was a whole mess of Mongolians. And there are always some Thais. In the evening the huge contingent of Lithuanians finally had a chance to celebrate a few wins.
It is also interesting what countries are not represented by fans - India, Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico. I was going to say China and Iran as well, but they showed in the evening.
The four Americans did well. Yanez' fight was a breeze against an Australian who looked about 9. Yanez just blew him away with handspeed, connecting with lead hooks until the ref called it off. His opponent in the quarters will be Tanamor, who had an amazingly bad fight with Dostiev. The final score was 4-4 and half of those points came on inactivity warnings given to both fighters! Neither one was willing to risk anything - the Filipino fighters seem to be too cautious across the board.
Rau'Shee's fight with Payla was a good one, for the most part. He came out strong and established a quick lead, which allowed him to counter and dodge the rest of the way. What he did better than anyone I've seen was to throw fast combinations when he had his opponent off balance. Most of the fighters will back off or fall in after two punches, but Shee kept it coming. I didn't like that he several times ended his flurries with a wild blind hook, although I don't think it will hurt him on this level. He also played a little too much on defense for my taste late, but he was never in any trouble. I can see why he's beaten Balakshin before, as he seems just the type to give him trouble. Balakshin is very short (it seems like the primary weakness of the Russian team is that a lot of them are short) and a solid straight ahead fighter who had trouble building points on Kumar. I think Rau'Shee's hand speed and length will give him the advantage and I like him to advance.
The opening two rounds of the Andrade fight were the most electric I've seen the arena yet. This was also the only fight in two days I've been here where there was authentic bad blood. They pushed and jawed and got the crowd riled up - every time someone started chanting for Belarus, the USA crowd would respond. The first two rounds were more like pro fighting, as both guys stood in and threw bombs at each other, with Andrade landing some big shots and getting two standing 8's in the first round. I thought Demetrius might have come out too amped up and gotten caught, but he avoided any big shots and was able to coast to the win after both of them tired in the last two rounds. The bad blood continued at the end as Andrade shuffled backwards away from Nurudinov instead of tapping gloves at the end, and the non-US crowd booed. To be honest, I didn't really care for it either. His next opponent, Culcay-Keth is very solid and an accurate puncher, but without a lot of movement or flash. I think Andrade has a great chance to do the same thing again - build an early lead and kill off the fight.
I thought Hunter was fairly poor, and I'd agree with J that he was fortunate to win. I wouldn't say it was a bad decision, but if it had gone the other way I don't think anyone could complain. I don't like Hunter's footwork, he's clumsy coming forward and setting up. I'd have to assume Timurziev will wreck him. When Islam came out very flat-footed and plodding, I was unimpressed. Then he put the Azeri in a corner and unloaded on him with a shedload of power punches. A short time later he put him on the ropes and attacked again, crumpling him to the floor with a body shot and when the ref let it continue the corner throws in the towel, after 90 total seconds. No other 91+ looked very special, although Price was intriguing with his height and technique. The other side of the draw is going to have a pretty uninspiring fighter in the final.
I'm glad to hear Lomachenko is considered a great prospect. I didn't know that yesterday, so I hope it says I know a little about what I'm looking at. Today, my favorite fighter was Onur Sipal, a young Turk who beat Khidirov at 60kg. I don't know if he will win anything as an amateur because he doesn't care too much about tactics or defense, but he has a great compact stance and sits down on his punches more than anyone else I've seen in two days. Everything is hard, and he doesn't tire. He took an early lead, lost it, and then dropped Khidirov hard in the fourth with it still close and eventually got three standing eights to win on an RSC. He looks like he'll be a great pro if he chooses.
The Thais and Italians are doing really well. The Thais are all tall and experienced. Except one that I don't think is so experienced, Non Boonjumnong, had the upset of the day beating the Russian Balanov fairly easily. Boonjumnong is extremely tall and the Russian couldn't figure out how to get through his length. Jongjohor also looked very good and Reunreong is also useful. The Italians remind me a little of the Russians - all of their fighters just win. They don't move like Ali, but they just pile up points and don't get hit. The Russians dropped two - with Zou Shiming easily beating Ayrepetyan. Zou is the real deal - great lateral movement and lightning hands and Ayrepetyan is tiny and could not get in to land.
Let's see - who was asked about? McWilliams Arroyo is a very disciplined Latin fighter, avoiding the machismo that always kills the Mexicans. He stays in, but with very tight defense. Vankeu tried to roughouse him, but it was not too much problem. His next opponent, another lefty in Mammadov, also held in against a rough, big swinger. He and Arroyo seem very similar and it should be close. Tishchenko won easily against a Dutch fighter, who made a decent account for himself. Tishchenko throws nice short punches - again, nothing that gets the crowd going, just piles up points. Ill need to see him against a tougher opponent - but he should have no trouble with Sayota who tends to reach, and was nothing special in his win. Diego Chaves tried hard but was clearly outclassed by the taller and more technical Grusac. Chaves was the most sporting loser, calling for applause for Grusac and then having his picture taken with Holyfield on his way out.
No giant KO's today or people collapsing in the ring, thank goodness.
I haven't seen Manzanilla or McJoe Arroyo, who fought before I arrived yesterday. I think of the Latin fighters I've seen, I like Blanco the best. Darley Perez also won today against an Indian, and stood out with his defensive stance and counterpunching. I would like him to beat the North Korean Kim Ki-Suk, who is not very good to watch, but I think Kim's akwardness (very tall and doesn't throw straight punches) might be a problem. The other "Americans" didn't fare too well, although Adam Trupish knocked his Swedish opponent down and out on a punch I missed - grabbing an Olympic place for Canada.
Can Tischchenko or Korobov be beaten? I couldn't say - I might have more thoughts after seeing them tomorrow against different opponents.
Timurizev is the hardest hitting amateur super heavyweight in the past ten years. The remarkable thing about him is most punchers are somewhat limited in versatility. Timurziev is rather versatile and technical for a puncher. He has good hand speed, and high guard type of defense. He can in or out fight, and target the head or body equally well. I’ve seen him stop guys with head or body shots. The other fighters seem scared of him.
Since professional boxing needs a marquee names in the heavyweight division, it will be best for the sport if Timurizev wins gold and goes professional after this event or after the 2008 Olympics.
Let me add my thanks, too, Emile. Glad to hear McWilliams is doing well - hope you get to see McJoe. I'm also really surprised at Andrade for his apparent show of bad sportsmanship. I hope he got a tongue lashing for that display. I don't think Hunter will be the savior of the HW division, and I hope he matures before the Olympics and settles into good technique and skills. He has all the potential in the world - doubt if he's even up to 50 bouts yet. 8)
I think I was too hard on Hunter above. Beating a tough Iranian fighter in the round of 16 is certainly nothing to feel bad about, and although the fight was close and could have gone either way, he did finish well landing a late combination to seal the win. Clearly, with Timurziev, you can't stand in one place or get caught against the ropes - hands are too fast and accurate (I've seen him for all of 90 seconds, but that was enough). Hunter is one of the more athletic superheavies, so he should fare better than some others - but I think his footwork negates a lot of his athleticism. He'll need to use some upper body movement to survive, I'd think.
I wonder - someone who uses sopcasts a lot, is there an international feed that will be showing the semis and finals live? I don't want to have to wait to see what Fox comes up with.
EDIT - One other, I looked at the Junior Amateur results, and see that Shynaliev got a silver in Morocco. He is an interesting fighter at that weight (81). Quite short southpaw, but aggressive and not afraid to throw someone down who tries to maul him. He was giving up a lot of height, but easily handed China one of their few losses. He fights Tony Jeffries of England next, which should be a good one. A bright spot for what has been a pretty bad tourney for the non-Russian Central Asians.
A bright spot for what has been a pretty bad tourney for the non-Russian Central Asians.
The Russians are certainly on a plateau of their own - head and shoulders above the rest. The Stans have not fared well at all.
I don't think you were too hard on Hunter, Emile. I think you were truthful about what you saw. Yes, he has accomplished probably more than anyone thought in the tournament, but he still needs lots of work - and to stay off the ropes!!!! Grrrrrrr..............
boxmel wrote:Any one care to speculate on the state of the Worlds if the Cubans had been here???
After losing 5 great boxers, 4 Olympic gold medal winners and the other a world champ, the 2nd string was not so good. Though they won some golds at the Pan Am's, they did not look all that good. They had at least one guy who got stopped and several others receive 8 counts. After looking at how well the Latin American countries are doing here, I think several of them did like the USA and did not have all of their top guys in the Pan Am's because I thought most the boxers besides Cuba, US, a few Puerto Ricans and Dominicans looked week.
Besides the strong possibility of Cuba's boxers defecting while in Chicago, I think they did not want the rest of the world to see how week they are now without their top five who are no longer in their program. They did not want the mistique of the Cuban boxing team to be exposed as average now.
They beat the Russians last year in the world Cup 6-5. That was with their best boxers. The Russians and others would of given them a sound beaten if they came to Chicago. Cuba may of won only a few medals.
Rau'shee Warren and Raynell Williams are both boxing in the morning session. I think the USA will get both these boxers into the medal rounds. Some of the guys in the evening session are going to have more difficulty making it into the medal rounds. I think Andrade and Yanez will both make it even though they have tough opponents. Andrade must be boxing brilliantly as he is outclassing some good opponents. Yanez too is doing very well.
Gary Russell - well I have always been impressed by him since I first saw him about 7 or 8 years ago. I just hope that his troubles dealing with living in Colorado and being trained by someone other than his Dad doesn't hurt him. If not, I think he will beat the Russian and then go on to win gold.
Hunter - stick and move and don't stand still against a big puncher. Keep giving him angles and keep turning him. If Mike uses his assets, he could win this bout. If he wins, many people will be very surprised and he will have truly earned his Olympic berth.
Ray had a good tournament and got qualified for the Olympics. He is 18 and lost to a 21 year-old Russian who is one of the best boxers in the World. Ray will do well if he works hard over the next year.
Finger's crossed for Raynell.