Olympic Boxing: "WTF" Moments

*In the fight between the Irish and Algerian middleweights, the Irish fighter landed a hard right, one that hit so flush the ref gave the Algerian a standing 8. YET THE PUNCH DID NOT COUNT IN THE SCORE!!!

*In the fight between the Kazak and Russian middleweights, they were in clinches so long (the Kazak engaging more of the clinches) that the Russian used both of his gloves to push off the Kazak's face to back him off. However, the ref just stared repeatedly as the Russian fighter, obviously immobilized by the Greco-Roman style of the Kazak, had to snap the Kazak's head back so far that his neck extended each time. Obviously this was very dangerous, and the ref showed no regard for either fighter's safety. I would rather see punching out of a clinch, but after the Kazak's repeated deathgrips, not doing anything on the ref's part was absolutely disgraceful.

*For shots that landed but weren't scored, I thought Estrada landed 3 to every 1 that Degale landed in their fight. Might I add that Estrada didn't do much to help his own cause, throwing one punch at a time without throwing a single jab all night before getting caught by a straight left then being held in a clinch over and over an over again.

*I didn't see Raynell fight, but from what I've seen on the board, it wasn't pretty.


SIDE NOTE: Kolya: What is your take on Dan Campbell? Granted this isn't the most talented group in USA Boxing history, but a couple of things have been iffy in the corner, most notably Warren not knowing if he was ahead in Round 4, and Estrada not getting advised to throw a jab against a British southpaw who was VERY beatable. Even worse, Ali, Estrada, and Warren all stated postfight that they did not follow the gameplan. Does that factor into the discipline aspect of the team?

 

I didn't see that fight, but with the garbage decisions the Chinese fighters have been receiving, I wouldn't doubt if Beterbiev was screwed.

 

Jaco: It was a close fight. I thought Artayev landed more cleaner shots overall, but the fact was that he was leading with his head, then after doing his work would clinch, and clinch so long that Korobov had to push off with BOTH of his hands to Artayev's face. This of course was dangerous because he would not only snap Artayev's neck back numerous times, but also because there's always the risk that the inside of your gloves can scratch the other guy up when you push to the face. With that said, I thought the ref should've penalized Artayev for excessive holding as early as Round 3, because if he did that, Artayev probably would've backed off that Ruizesque strategy, and you would've had a cleaner, fairer fight.

 

Ukraine especially.