Olympic preview-Light-Flyweight.

[donnellon]

Before the last Olympics I did a weight-by-weight ****ysis of the boxers in the Irish boxers divisions, so here is my attempt for Rio.
First up of course light flyweight and Paddy Barnes (Ireland).
Other Qualifiers at the moment;
Patrick Lourengo (Brazil) (Host place) beat Egorov and Gan-Erdene but most of his recent form is poor. Hernandez and Martinez beat him and recently he lost to Ahmed of Scotland 2-1.
Bin Lyu (China)APB champion with wins over Zhakypov and Barriga. Might not be as good over three three’s as witnessed by his defeats by an old Barnes victim Laishram Devender Singh of India and Dusmatov.
Birzhan Zhakypov (Kazakhstan) 2013 World Champion, could never master Shiming but like Barnes was constantly at the top. Now boxing in the APB, lost final to Lyu but defeated Lourengo along the way. Might just be slipping as Britain’s Sunny Edwards edged him out 2-1 at the Gee-Bee’s in March. Just defeated Ahmed of Scotland on his return to 3x3 rounds.
Yoahnys Argilago (Cuba) The former World Youth champion and now World senior champion is probably the favourite with Barnes. He showed his class in dominating Irvine in the Worlds, no easy task. Brendan holds a win over him from a tournament in 2014. The young Cuban also has defeated Egorov, split fights with Velasquez and lost to Dusmatov.
Vasiliy Egorov (Russia) is a serious contender, wins over Gan-Erdene, Ladon, fellow Russians Samoyolov,and Ay****tyan. He can be beaten of course as Argilago proved in the World final in Doha last year and Zhakypov beat him in 2014. Lourengo managed a win over him in back in 2013 bur Egorov is vastly improved now.
Yubergen Martinez (Colombia) Silver in the 2015 PanAmerican Qualifier, beat Hernandez in the Olympic qualifier final. Has lost to Velasquez but defeated Lourengo.
Nico Hernandez (USA) Lost to Irvine and a win over Lourengo is his only win of note.
Simplique Fotchala (Cameroon) ) African qualifier winner beating Hamunyela on a W.O. in the final.
Matias Hamunyela (Namibia) Should be the best of the qualified African contingent, has defeated the other two.
Sibusiso Bandla (South Africa) beat Mungai from Kenya, a long ago conqueror of Barnes, in a play-off to book his seat.
Khasanbay Dusmatov (Uzbekistan) beat the young Cuban World champion, Argilago in the WSB. He also defeated Velasquez in the WSB as well as the great Russian Ay****tyan, an 2012 Olympic bronze winner. He clinched his place in Rio by defeating Ladon in the Asian qualifier. Gan-Erdene, Sagaluev-who beat Irvine in the Euro Games decider-Zhussopov and Bin Lyu are other victims but Zhakypov has a pair of wins over him. Huseynov of Azerbaijan also surprised him in the Worlds.
Rogen Ladon (Philippines) Traditional a strong country he takes over from Barriga and won a World bronze last year defeating Velasquez on the way, before losing to Egorov. Won over Gan-Erdene in the Asian qualifier but lost the final to Dusmatov.
Gankhuyag Gan-Erdene (Mongolia) has lost to Lourengo, Egorov, Dusmatov and Ladon to name a few.Did win this years Chemistry Cup in Germany, defeating a couple of locals, not easy.
Galal Yafai (Britain)-surprise British qualifier and the younger brother of Kal and Gamal. He beat Carmona of Spain and Hovhannisyan (Armenia) to win the European qualifier.
Artur Hovhannisyan (Armenia) as well as losing to Yafai has won and lost to Irvine. But he did beat Cappai and also defeated the Bulgarian Banabakov.
Manuel Cappai (Italy) is hardly of this level but a good European qualifier saw him defeat Carmona in a box-off and take the scalp of Ukrain’s Dmitro Zamotayev. He did lose to Hovannisyan though. Incidentally Ryan Burnett beat him back in 2010.
Others.The best fighter not qualified yet might be Joselito Velasquez of Mexico who boxes in the APB and has split decisions with Argilago, defeated Egorov and Martinez. Seemingly more effective in the WSB he was surprised by Ladon in the Worlds. The All-African Games champion, Francel Moussiesse from the Congo is probably the best Light-fly in Africa and could qualify. Shin Jong-Hun of South Korea is suspended and this removes one of the main threats. Dmitro Zamotayev of the Ukraine, the World bronze medallist and Huseynov of Azerbaijan are others who haven’t yet qualified.
So what do we make of all this? I believe we can safely discard the gold medal winning chances of the three African qualifiers, also Hernamdez, Gan-Erdene, Hovhannisyan, Cappai, Martinez and probably Lourengo but home advantage might get him further than his ability might suggest. That leaves Egorov, Ladon, dark-horse Yafai, Bin Lyu(or Lu) Dusmatov, Argilago and Zhakypov.
I’d rate them like this;
1-Barnes
2-Argilago
3-Dusmatov
4-Zhakypov
5-Egorov
6-Bin Lu
7-Valesquez(if he qualifies)
8-Ladon
9-Yafai
10-Lourengo

[mike222]

There are two male qualifiers to come with the APB-WSB one likely to feature some professionals making their bid.
The Boxers who are the highest ranked by me not from a country that has qualified are
1 Shyan Kumar Kamar India
2 Joselito Velasquez Mexico
3 Devendro Singh India
4 Victor Santillan Dominican Republic
5 Kevin Arias Nicuaraga
6 Carlos Quipo Ecuador