The first day of gold medal finals saw both exciting performances and some sloppy brawls and one major surprise. We’ll review that action and preview tommorrow’s final day.

51KG:

Somjit Jongjohor entered his final amateur competition a strong favorite to medal, but when Rau’shee Warren of the US was put out of the tournament in his first bout, Jongjohor’s bracket was wide open for a run to gold. Jongjohor disappointed no one in the finals, winning a easy 8-2 call against Andry Lafitta. He counterpunched the Cuban effectively en route to Olympic Gold. Lafitta will almost certainly not be competing at the London Games and it would be a surprise to see the then 31 year old next year in Milan.

GOLD: Somjit Jongjohor (THAILAND)

SILVER: Andry Lafitta (CUBA)

BRONZE: Vincenzo Picardi (ITALY), Georgy Balakshin (RUSSIA)

57KG:

Vasyl Lomachenko (pictured above) had outclassed the entire field at the 08 Games, and yet after all his impressive performances at the Olympics this summer, he saved the best for last. All action brawler Khedafi Djelkhir went straight at Lomachenko attempting to overwhelm him, but Lomachenko went on offense landing bombs to the head and body. In the first truly transcendent performance of the Games for boxing, Lomachenko hurt Djelkhir repeatedly, earning a stoppage after three 8 counts were administered in the very first round. Lomachenko may get some beefy offers from the German promoters and perhaps even the occasional American group, and one must hope he moves into the pro game where he can make a major splash.

GOLD: Vasyl Lomachenko (UKRAINE)

SILVER: Khedafi Djelkhir (FRANCE)

BRONZE: Yakup Kilic (TURKEY), Shahin Imranov (AZERBAIJAN)

64KG:

Manuel Felix Diaz got into the finals in controversial fashion with his win over Alexis Vastine of France, but made the most of the opportunity. He tore into Manus Boonjumnong in Round 3 and pulled well ahead of the awkward Thai fighter, forcing him into corners and utilizing combination punching to score. The 12-4 win was easily the the biggest surprise brought thus far, as Diaz was barely on the radar leading into the event.

GOLD: Manuel Felix Diaz (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)

SILVER: Manus Boonjumnong (THAILAND)

BRONZE: Alexis Vastine (FRANCE), Roniel Iglesias (CUBA)

75KG:

James DeGale and Emilio Correa engaged in a wild fight with comparatively high scoring for any of the Olympic bouts. Unfortunately, all the scoring came in a messy, clinch filled disaster of a “fight” where Correa regularly jumped in, clinched, and pulled DeGale around while trying to close the distance in scoring with warnings from the ref. Hilariously, it wasn’t until late in round 4 that Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas realized that Correa was pulling out the Casamayor style tricks. Correa’s two point deficit in the end was tied directly to his bite of DeGale in Round 1, partially caught on camera by the world feed. Regardless of how it happened, James DeGale is a exciting young fighter with a fantastic personality, solid defense, and outstanding hand speed. Britannia is a hot bed for the sport once more.

GOLD: James DeGale (GREAT BRITAIN)

SILVER: Emilio Correa (CUBA)

BRONZE: Darren Sutherland (IRELAND), Vijender Kumar (INDIA)

91KG:

Americans didn’t get to see this, and frankly, it doesn’t bother me. Rakhim Chakhkiev has a future as the next Sultan Ibragimov/Ruslan Chagaev type, but will likely not be any sort of great star for boxing’s future. Oh, the fight? 4-2, and supposedly nearly unwatchable.

GOLD: Rakhim Chakhkiev (RUSSIA)

SILVER: Clemente Russo (ITALY)

BRONZE: Deontay Wilder (USA), Osmay Acosta (CUBA)

PREVIEW FOR DAY 2 -

48KG: Its tough for me to say much because I have seen precious little of Mongolia’s Serdamba, but Shiming of China is the clear overwhelming favorite. Serdamba got in via regional qualifiers and has never won or medaled in a major competition prior to this, and while he’s overachieved to get this far, its impossible to imagine him beating the hometown favorite.

54KG: Yankiel Leon had some problems with the unorthodox style of Mauritius’ Bruno Julie. He gets a more orthodox opponent in the next round, which is good. The problem is that he’s clearly the one of the best fighters in the world. Enkhbayt Badar-Uugan is one of those “pro style” fighters and he’s a helluva athlete to boot. He’s also scored 15 points 3 times in the tourney against better competition. Expect Badar-Uugan working every part of Leon, and with a stoppage, he might just steal the Val Barker from Shiming and Lomachenko.

60KG: Sow could pull an upset here with his awkward offensive style. Or Tishchenko could outbox him with his straightforward orthodox ability. Tishchenko was the second best in the event when Frankie Gavin couldn’t make the weight, and Diaz’s win today makes the possiblity of two massive upsets occuring statistically unlikely. The safe bet is Tishchenko in a boring hold fest.

69KG: Carlos Banteaux has torn up the crowd, but the last guy he really wants to see in the finals is Kazakhstan’s Bakhyt Sarsekbayev. Sarsekbayev has two wins over the superior former Cuban representative at the weight (Erislandi Lara) to boot. Banteaux did beat Hanati Silamu of China by a wide margin, but that was assisted by a complete lack of body punching scoring for Silamu. A very close bout to call, but my money would be on the battle tested Sarsekbayev.

81KG: Zhang Xiaoping surprised a lot of people with a win over the Kazakh boxer Shynaliyev and should probably be considered the favorite on that basis. He’s had a number of close wins, and the power punching southpaw Kenneth Egan from Ireland will likely not be different in that. Egan’s had a much easier road to the Gold Medal round (as I stated from his first prelim, his bracket was wide open for him), and its hard to see a Chinese fighter in China losing to a fighter with minimal international experience and few wins over top notch competition, especially when the Chinese fighter has beaten 2 of the top 3 at the weight already in the tournament.

91+KG: This is a biggie. Cammarelle is still on the fence about turning pro, and he would probably stay amateur for another Olympics if he comes back disappointed this time around. Meanwhile, Zhang Zhilei could astound everyone by not only earning what looks like the third Gold for China in boxing, but doing so at super heavyweight. Will Zhilei get to stay an amateur and be paid well for his work? Will he attempt the pro game where his size, youth, and technique could make him a serious contender in the next 2-3 years in a wide open heavyweight division? Neither man should be beat up after the semis, and Zhilei’s improvements and size might just be enough to steal gold. For Cammarelle, there’s always the next Games should he fail. After all, how many top heavyweight fighters can Italy have?