Day 10 is underway in Rio. Here's what we saw this morning, including a big upset to start.
Women’s lightweight (60kg) - Quarterfinals
Mira Potkonen (Finland) def. Katie Taylor (Ireland)
This is a huge upset. Taylor was a sensation at the 2012 Olympics in London, winning gold there, and had been undefeated for five years, but she lost a couple of fights in the last four months, and wasn’t coming in on a hot streak. Potkonen gave her a hell of a battle, which was originally scored a draw, which then requires the judges to push a button for their choice to push through to the next round. Potkonen got enough to advance. I scored the first and third for Taylor, and the second for Potkonen, all of them clear to me. But one judge gave Potkonen the first, and one judge gave her the third, and all of them gave her the second, which was clearly hers. The fourth was close. In the end, we got an upset, but not without some controversy.
Junhua Yin (China) def. Yana Alekseeva (Azerbaijan)
Yin moves on to face Potkonen, both of them guaranteed at least a bronze medal, the winner fighting for gold. This was a solid performance from her, and a deserved win.
Men’s flyweight (52kg) - Round of 16
Elvin Mamishzada (Azerbaijan) def. Olzhas Sattibayev (Kazakhstan)
First of all, I do think Mamishzada, the top seeded fighter, deserved the win. He won the second and third rounds for me. But the first round, where he swept the scorecards, was ridiculous, as that was a clear Sattibayev round. And the third was debatable. AND all three judges gave Sattibayev that round! So what the hell? Judging in Rio has gone from fine early to a mess the last few days.
Shakhobiding Zoirov (Uzbekistan) vs Antonio Vargas (United States)
The difference here really seemed to be mostly in experience, with Vargas, who turned 20 today, competitive throughout, but Zoirov pretty much in control of things all the way, too.
Yoel Finol (Venezuela) def. Muhammad Ali (Great Britain)
Ali had a first round bye, and to say this was a disappointing outcome would be a major understatement. He was expected to win this one, definitely, and was considered a possible medal contender. But Finol just completely outworked him and swept every card.
Mohamed Flissi (Algeria) def. Daniel Asenov (Bulgaria)
Asenov is a tough, come forward fighter, but Flissi, the No. 2 seed, just outclassed him, wouldn’t let Asenov get inside as much as he needed to win the fight. Flissi is a good boxer and the matchup with Ali in the quarterfinals is an interesting one.
Men’s welterweight (69kg) - Semifinal
Shakhram Giyasov (Uzbekistan) def. Mohammed Rabii (Morocco)
Rabii was the No. 1 seed, but Giyasov thoroughly won this fight. Not even so much dominated as was just completely in control and won every minute of this fight, which the judges saw, too, with Giyasov winning 30-27 across the board. Giyasov moves on to the gold medal match, while Rabii takes home a bronze.
Men’s middleweight (75kg) - Quarterfinals
Arlen López (Cuba) def. Christian Mbilli (France)
This was a hell of a fight. Mbilli was all action, just a tornado of punches, threw everything he had at the top-ranked Cuban, and he wound up eating a lot of hard shots in return. All in all, one of the best action fights we’ve seen thus far, as López engaged and didn’t back down from the challenge. Just great stuff.
Kamran Shakhsuvarly (Azerbaijan) def. Zhanibek Alimkhanuly (Kazakhstan)
This one had some story, as Shakhsuvarly used to fight for Kazakhstan before he moved to Azerbaijan, and these two are the same age, so you figure they kinda grew up together as fighters. Lots of holding in an ugly win for Shakhsuvarly.
