CHINESE TOP LIGHT FLYWEIGHT ZOU, U.S. BET YANEZ ADVANCE BUT TANAMOR FALLS
Norman Vergara
AHN
August 13, 2008 9:40 p.m. EST
Beijing, China (AHN) – China’s Zou Shiming, the only boxer with
previous Olympic experience in Beijing, stamped his class against
Venezuelan Eduard Bermudez 11-2 to reach the Round of 16 in the light
flyweight division Wednesday night at the Workers’ Gymnasium.
The host nation’s only gold bet in the division moved on to the next
round against Frenchman Nordine Oubaali, who nipped his Uzbekistani
foe Rafikjon Sultonov 8-7.
While Zou coasted to a searing win, his old rival Harry Tanamor of
the Philippines suffered a crushing loss against Ghana’s Manyo Plange
6-3. Tanamor, the silver medalist in last year’s world championships,
was in disarray early on and was a shadow of his earlier self that
appeared in the Chicago event.
The defeat gives Zou almost a clear path in duplicating his gold-medal
finish in the worlds. In Athens four years ago, Zou copped the
bronze medal.
In other light flyweight matches held Wednesday night, Winston Mendez
Montero carved out a 9-3 beating of Kenya’s Suleiman Bilali. Thai
Amnat Ruanroeng bombed out Jack Willie of Papua New Guinea 14-2 and
American Luis Yanez held off Spaniard Kelvin de la Nieve 12-9.
Yanez’s victory came almost a month after he was reinstated to the
USA Boxing Olympic team. He next faces Mongolian Purevdori Serdamba
in the Round of 16.
The rest who made the next round include Ukrainian Georgiy Chygayev,
Cuban Yampier Hernandez, Irish Paddy Barnes, Ecuadorian Jose Luis
Meza, Namibian Japhet Uutoni, Polish Lukasz Maszczyk, Kazakh Birzhan
Zhakypov and Armenian Hovhannes Danielyan.
In heavyweight action, world champion Clemente Russo of Italy secured a
place in the quarterfinals by beating Belarus’ Viktar Zuyev 7-1. Russo
will face Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in the last eight.
The United States’ Deontay Wilder also advanced by defeating Algerian
Abdelaziz Toulbini, and Frenchman John M’Bumba likewise moved on
after nipping Colombian Deivi Julio Blanco.