On Thursday, August 14, 2008 welterweight Gold Medal favorite Demetrius Andrade opened the next round of elimination bouts for the U.S. team competing in the Round of 16 against thirty-two year old Andrey Balanov of Russia, who Andrade had previously lost to as a young seventeen year old at the 2005 World Cup.

Following Andrade into the Round of 16 elimination bouts are featherweight Raynell Williams, who faces Khedafi Djelkhir of France later today, middleweight Shawn Estrada and light flyweight Luis Yanez compete tomorrow and Deontay Wilder moves into the Quarter finals on Sunday due to the smaller field in the heavyweight division.

A quick recap of the rest of the U.S. boxing team starts before the first punch was even thrown. Bantamweight Gold Medal favorite Gary Russell, Jr collapsed from dehydration on the Thursday before the weigh-in, trying to shed one last pound and was not able to compete in the Olympic Games.

Light welterweight Javier Molina was unable to cut off the ring as he chased the faster Boris Georgiev of Bulgaria to a 14-1 loss. Lightweight Sadam Ali abandoned his boxing skills and lost to Georgian Popescu of Romania by a score of 20-5.

One of the most crushing blows to the U.S. team was when two-time Olympian and Gold Medal favorite Rau’shee Warren thought he was ahead on points during the last round and did not throw any punches against Korea ’s Oksung Lee.

With only four seconds left in the bout, Warren noticed his coach telling him to throw punches, but it was too late, losing the chance to fulfill his Olympic dream by a score of 9-8. More...

Last Saturday, August 9, 2008, middleweight Shawn Estrada got the U.S. boxing team off to a great start, winning his preliminary bout against Ezequiel Maderna of Argentina by a final score of 10-2. Estrada could not have asked for a better draw, having previously beat Maderna at the Americas Qualifier in Guatemala by a score of 4-1 earlier this year.

Estrada used the ring well boxing to an early lead of 7-1 at the end of round two. The taller Maderna was unable to use his height advantage and struggled to score points.

Round three was a low scoring round with each fighter gaining only one point. Estrada smothered himself on the inside, which prevented him from throwing clean punches. He scored two additional points in the fourth round and gave the U.S. boxing team their first win, advancing to the Round of 16 where he will face James DeGale of Great Britian.

On the second day of Olympic boxing, the light welterweight and welterweight fighters took center stage and the U.S. had mixed results, going one and one.

The eighteen year-old U.S. light welterweight Javier Molina faced off against tough twenty-five year-old Boris Georgiev of Bulgaria, who had won a Bronze Medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Molina gave Georgiev some early opportunities, leaving his head open by bouncing his left hand from his chest to his leg, creating openings for the Bulgarian, which he capitalized on by ending the first round with a 6-0 lead. More...