Boxing at the Summer Games of the XXXII Olympiad, Tokyo

Pat McCormack (GBR) vs. Roniel Iglesias (CUB), men's welter final.

67kg championship gold about to be decided!!

 

All due respect to McCormack, not saying he doesn't fully deserve to be here, but...he didn't exactly have a murderer's row in his path to reach this stage, did he? Bye in the round of 32, and then a walkover in the semis due to Walsh stupidly injuring himself...really he only had to defeat two men, the young green Belarusian kid and then Bobo the Uzbek, someone McCormack has already beaten in the past.

 

Close first round. McCormack with some tight, controlled lateral movement and strong crisp jabs - but Iglesias adroitly flowing inside and pumping southpaw 1-1-2s aplenty into the chest.

 

This is the best Roniel's left cross has looked all tourney. He's fully switched on and seems to want to capture gold in style, with a KO. (and over a highly touted favorite, no less)

 

Should've that've been a knockdown?

Yeah there might have been some toe-stepping but I kind of think Pat was going down no matter their foot positioning there, from that shot.

 

Iglesias can get on his bike if he wants, all he needs to do to secure gold is avoid getting dropped. (in which case, they'd do what? Countback? Extra round? He'd probably still win either way)

 

Credit to him, though, he stays in the pocket in a waiting crouch slipping punches and threading in more straight lefts on McCormack's face.