2016 Río Olympics - North & South American Boxing Qualification Finals

Split decision...

Martínez takes gold

 

That means at least one judge (the one that was split after 2) - if not two, or all three - gave Martínez R3, which he definitely lost IMO (even though he won the match on my card and would have lost it had all 3 judges seen him losing R3) - but whatever.

 

That was today's last bout.

 

All that's left for tomorrow is a handful of gold medal and third-place bouts, and the remaining medal ceremonies. (unless they do some tonight - which it appears they may be about to start now, with the men's 81kg)

America & Africa are just about done. Europe & Asia are next week.

 

Jonathan Esquivel is given his bronze medal, even though he won't be going to Río.

The other bronze goes to Juan Carlos Carrillo Palacio, in absentia - also not going to Río.

 

Silver to Ramírez Durán, and gold to Mina Caicedo.

 

Full list of men already qualified to compete this summer:

http://aiba.s3.amazonaws.com/2015/12/Rio-2016-Olympic-Games-Qualified-boxers.pdf

(not all had to go through continental qualification tourneys; Clemente Russo for instance has a spot based on his WSB ranking, as do others...and some top ranked competitors from AIBA Pro Boxing)

 

Already penciled in for Río via this Americas Qualification tourney:


Yurberjen Martinez (COL) and Nico Hernández (USA) - men's 49kg

Fernando Daniel Martínez (ARG) and Leonel de los Santos Núñez (DOM) - men's 52kg

Alberto Melián (ARG) and Shakur Stevenson (USA) - men's 56kg ***

Luis Angel Cabrera vs. Teófimo Andrés López Rivera (HON) and TBA - 60kg *** †

Arthur Biyarslanov and Luis Martin Arcón Díaz (VEN) - men's 64kg

Roniel Iglesias (CUB) and Gabriel Maestre Perez (VEN) and TBA - men's 69kg *** †

Charles Conwell (USA) and Misael Rodríguez (MEX) and Jorge Vivas (COL) - men's 75kg

Albert Ramirez (VEN) and Carlos Andres Mina (ECU) - men's 81kg ***

Erislandy Savon (CUB) and Yamil Peralta (ARG) and Juan Noriega (BRA) - men's 91kg

(Noriega defeated Cam F. Awesome in the bronze medal bout; only three qualification spots were available)

Lenier Pero (CUB) and Nigel Pato (TTO) - men's 91+kg

Mikaela Mayer (USA) - women's 60kg

Claressa Shields (USA) and Ariane Fortin (CAN) - women's 75kg

Mandy Bujold (CAN) and Ingrit Valencia (COL) - women's 51kg


*** - gold medal bout taking place tomorrow.
† - bronze medal bout (determining 3rd and 4th place, with only the former qualifying for Río) taking place tomorrow.

 

Fernando Daniel "El Puma" Martínez is awarded his gold medal at 52kg to conclude today's event & broadcast.

He's a huge local favorite, being a Buenos Aires native. The crowd is chanting "PUMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

Interesting note about men's bantamweight - the overwhelming favorite and #1 seed was Robeisy Eloy Ramírez Carrazana of Cuba, and he was eliminated by Alberto Melián by UD in the preliminaries (Round-of-16).

So that's a legit powerhouse American hopeful Shakur Stevenson has in front of him in the Finals tomorrow.

 

In other divisions, the finalists are not so much of a surprise.

A showdown for gold between Roniel Iglesias and Gabriel Jose Maestre Pérez was inevitable, given there were no other elites in the bracket. (the biggest threat being Paul Kroll, who isn't even the best domestic welterweight and only made Team USA by winning the right match at the right time at the box-off trials)

 

Osmar Bravo of Nicaragua - a returning Olympian from 2012 with the misfortune of having fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his second match in London - getting eliminated relatively early in the prelims (by a Canadian, who in turn ended up not even reaching the medal stages) was kind of an upset, too. Light heavyweight should've been all his, on paper.

 

162 posts, of which 90% (145) are by me - does anybody even care about or appreciate stuff like this? Why do I bother?

 

:good