Olympic Boxing: Unstoppable Cubans Win Three More Today In Beijing

By Alejandro Tostado August 17th, 2008 All Boxing Results

The Cuban boxing team continued their domineering ways today in Beijing's Worker's Gymnasium as they continue to steamroll anyone who gets in their monumental quest for Olympic Gold.

Just three days after his 20th birthday, lanky light welterweight Roniel Iglesias continued to shatter the myth that the Cuban team would be hurt by defections earlier this year as the kid from Pinar Del Rio defeated Russia's Gennady Kovalev in the quarterfinal round.

Kovalev had competed in the 2004 Olympics as a bantamweight but the 25 year old from Chelyabinsk had transitioned well to the light welter class, finishing second at the 2007 World Championships in Chicago.

But the taller Iglesias proved too much for the Russian to handle as the Cuban pulled clear for a low scoring 5-2 victory.

There are now just four remaining light welters in the mix and joining Iglesias are the Dominican Republic's Felix Diaz, Thailand's Manus Boonjumnong, France's Alexis Vastine, who all won their bouts today. More...

Olympics Boxing: British Team Gets Mixed Results This Week In Beijing

By Jane Warburton August 16th, 2008 All Boxing Results

Having a first round bye, light heavyweight Tony Jeffries faced Colombian Eleider Alvarez on Thursday. It was a steady opening round as both men sussed each other out, but neither scored a point in the initial stanza.

Jeffries finally gets the first point with almost a minute of round two gone. A short left followed by a short right scored, which didn't register immediately on the computer scoreboard.

Moments later, a right lands from Jeffries but in the closing seconds, the Colombian lands a right and the score is 2-1 end of the second frame.

Both men come out looking more motivated in round three and Jeffries immediately scores. A fairly even round finishes with a 4-3 score to Jeffries.

A good right from Jeffries lands in the opening seconds of the final round, but he holds on momentarily when Alvarez lands a great uppercut. It's 5-4 to Jeffries and he just needs to keep out of trouble for the last half minute, but Alvarez scores again and it's a messy end with a score of 5 all.

The decider is "count-back", taking the judge's individual scores and discounting the best and worst. Jeffries is delighted when he is announced as the winner and goes through to the quarter-finals. More...

Olympic Boxing: Team Great Britain Reduced As Murray Loses In Beijing

By Jane Warburton August 13th, 2008 All Boxing Results

Billy Joe and Bradley Sauders move into second round of competition

After a fantastic 3 out of 3 for British boxers in Beijing, sadly, the team suffered itʼs first defeat yesterday when bantamweight Joe Murray lost out to Yu Gu of China.

Murray - brother of John, recently crowned British Lightweight Champion, had a tough four rounds against the home-boy. It was a messy contest from the start with both boxers being told to ʽclean it upʼ.

When Murray ended round one being 3-0 down, I hoped it was just a case of ʽnot settling inʼ yet. But, the Chinese fighter continued to notch up the points. It wasnʼt great boxing by Murray, but the scoring system didnʼt help matters as Murray could be seen landing shots that werenʼt counted.

The controversial points win of 17-7 gave Gu a second-round place and a disappointed Murray goes out of the competition.

Previously, middleweight James DeGale secured the first win for the Great Britain Team on Saturday followed by team-mates welterweight Billy Joe Saunders and light welterweight Bradley Saunders.

Billy Joe gave a fantastic display of boxing when he faced World Bronze Medallist Adem Kilicci, of Turkey. Winning every round - Saunders was impressive, whipping out the right then the left - moving quickly out of the way when his Turkish opponent threw a punch. More...