2009 World Cup of Petroleum Countries

[Hasim Rahman Jr]

Duran lost 5-1..
I thought it was a bad decision..he landed some good lefts in the 3rd that I thought should be points. Especially uppercuts.
Good fight but Team USA didn't getthe win...

[jnelsonc]

Duran landed blows and was not given credit for it. Its a joke! this is ridiculous. We have to almost knock them out to win. Like the MLD was doing, but then the transmission will get lost if we are kicking their butts, and then we will mysteriously lose!

[coachrl]

Once again, the Russians robbed us. Adam Lopez completely dominated the fight and lost 9-5. In the first round, Adam was down 3-1, although he should have been ahead. Round 2 he completely dominated going up 4-3. He won the round 3-0, but should have been given 9 points. It was a mismatch. In the last round, the body shots took their toll and the Russian was holding and wrestling for dear life. It was clear he was hurt to the body and when Adam landed good shots, they gave them to the Russian, just like in the Olympics. Thats ok. we know the Russians cheat, but experience is the thing - its ok if you lose here, just 1- gain experience, and 2 - don't get hurt. That is exactly what happened with all of our guys. But unfortunately, most of our guys got robbed.

[LiveFromRingside.com]

Brants out. 5-1 then after the fight was over I looked up and it was 6-1.

[Dennis]

Javier Torres lost to his opponent from Ukraine.

[Dennis]

I heard that Louie Byrd won. He is the only USA boxer left in the tourney and moving on to the semi-finals. Go Louie! Kick butt.

[byrdman66]

I have been watching all the fights and IMO its is the positioning in the ring that the USA team is hurting them self. You have to remember that it take three judges to earn a point. I agree that the Team USA is doing much better then the scores show. I am watching this in on the WEB broadcast the angle is much different. Just my opinon!

[Dennis]

Jeff - I hope Louie kicks butt tomorrow. Good luck and bring home the Gold!

[Roberts J]

I saw Brant's fight vs Grishunin. Grishunin is a good boxer, losing to Uysk by 1 point at the Euro Champs and I have seen him in Latvia and worked the corner against him for a friend, very crafty fighter & maximizes his distance and clinched on the side, and he's a southpaw. Not to mention he has the style of engine, throwing 4-6 punches at a time now and then which works.

[Dennis]

The judging may not be completely fair, but they aren't cheating enough to make all the Russians win.

All 3 Russian boxers in the 51kg weight class lost today.

The biggest shocker was in the 60kg class where Russia's two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Alexey Tishchenko lost to Kazakhstan's Gani Zhaylauovu by a score of 1:6.

[coachrl]

I am watching Byrd right now. I have never seen him fight, but I have to say he has very nice footwork and balance. Slips and ducks great. It looks like his experience is starting to pay off now. Well done Louis.

[byrdman66]

Jeff - I hope Louie kicks butt tomorrow. Good luck and bring home the Gold!

Thanks Dennis,

One more and He will!!!

[Dennis]

Congrats Jeff on Louie winning the Gold Medal. That is awesome!!!

Denver gets to welcome home Louie Byrd as World Cup champ!

[Dennis]

The judging might not always be fair at international competitions, but USA boxers can win gold. Louie Byrd just proved it as did Frankie Gomez a few months ago at the Worlds.

Now it is just a matter of our boxers doing it more consistently and getting more of them to the podium. We need to keep developing our boxers so that in 2011 a handful are able to win medals and then repeat the feat the following year in London 2012.

[Dennis]

I hope the people in Denver, CO give Louie Byrd some recognition for his huge achievement. The countries that attended the World Cup of Petroleum Countries were some of the top boxing countries. By winning the tourney, Louie has set himself up as one of the true front-runners for the USA's 2012 Olympic Team. I wonder if he will drop to 108 or move up to 114.

[hbomb2]

Coach Byrd Congratulations to you and your Champion Louie!...Oh by the way do you have $2,500 that I can borrow? LOL Awesome! I LOVE IT!!!

[Dennis]

Ron - He has $5,500 that you can borrow! Enjoy it Louie, you earned it.

[Dennis]

I guess there was some home-cooking with the judging in Russia. 10 out of the 11 champs were Russian. Louie Byrd was the only non-Russian to win the tourney. That makes it even more special for Louie.

[T Duquette]

Does anybody know why we didnt send a 64kg. Figured they would have sent gomez or sombody at least.

[byrdman66]

Does anybody know why we didnt send a 64kg. Figured they would have sent gomez or sombody at least.

Gomez was too young! you had to be 19yrs of age, to be in this tournament.

[Nitsuj85]

This goes back to earlier in the this thread. If amateur boxing was in High School and more colleges in the States like it is in Japan than it would be more popular. Unfortunately the pussification thats happening here in the States will not allow it

[Dennis]

They have boxing in the schools in Great Britain too and it has helped their overall boxing program. There are only a few schools in the U.S. that have boxing. We need more. If there was boxing in just 25% of high schools and a couple dozen colleges, the domestic competition would improve dramatically. Our boxers wouldn't need to go overseas as much to get better. We would start to win more medals in international tournaments, including the Olympics.

[LiveFromRingside.com]

I saw Brant's fight vs Grishunin. Grishunin is a good boxer, losing to Uysk by 1 point at the Euro Champs and I have seen him in Latvia and worked the corner against him for a friend, very crafty fighter & maximizes his distance and clinched on the side, and he's a southpaw. Not to mention he has the style of engine, throwing 4-6 punches at a time now and then which works.

It's funny you mention that. I was just working on interview questions for Brant. I was going to ask him about his fight against Grishunun and if he knew he was a southpaw.

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