Results from USA-Puerto Rico amateur duel

Good night for Team USA, and sounds like our Olympians were right on form.

(PHILADELPHIA, PA.) – The United States and Puerto Rico faced off in world boxing dual action on Saturday night at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pa., with four United States Olympians taking the ring for one of their final bouts before the 2008 Olympic Games.

Light flyweight Luis Yanez (Duncanville, Texas) returned to his Latin Legend form with a dominating performance in his contest with Bryan Aquino (Puerto Rico), winning a third round stoppage. Yanez took over from the opening bell, dropping Aquino to the canvas in the first round, and using his hand speed and superior skill to pile up a 9-0 lead after the first. He continued to dominate in the second, adding to his point total while holding Aquino scoreless en route to a 14-0 lead at the midway point. Yanez kept his foot on the gas into the third, winning the stoppage victory at the 1:06 mark of the round.

In the first flyweight bout, Bruno Escalante (Waimanalo, Hawaii) faced off with Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Gonzalez in a razor-tight contest. The bout was close from the opening bell with Escalante and Gonzalez boxing to a 4-4 tie after the first. Gonzalez grabbed the lead in second round of action, taking an 8-6 advantage at the halfway mark. Escalante chipped away at his lead in the third, pulling the bout to a 10-all tie as the fourth round began. The final two minutes couldn’t break the tie as the bout was deadlocked at 16 as the bell rang. With the total punch count tied at 37, the decision went to a judges’ poll and Gonzalez claimed the win on a 2-1 judges’ poll advantage.

2007 World Champion Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) was the third U.S. boxer to climb through the ropes, facing off with Carlos Ortiz of Puerto Rico. Warren emerged from the corner blazing, scoring with quick combinations and dropping Ortiz to take an 11-2 lead after the first round. He continued his onslaught in the second, adding to his point total with quick shots to claim a 17-3 advantage after four rounds of boxing. Warren kept Ortiz from landing a single scoring blow in the third while landing six of his own to win a mandatory stoppage victory at the 1:08 mark of round.

In bantamweight action, David Clark (San Diego, Calif.) came into the ring looking for an international win following a long string of close losses and he accomplished his mission, winning a 29-24 decision over Puerto Rico’s Hector Marrero. It was Marrero grabbing the first lead, claiming a 5-4 advantage after the first. Yet Clark stole the momentum in the second round, letting loose with a barrage of punches, scoring 14 points to take an 18-10 advantage after the second. Clark’s pace slowed slightly in the third, but he wouldn’t relinquish his lead. He took a strong 23-16 edge into final round of boxing and held on over the final two minutes to win the 29-24 final victory.

2008 National Champion Robert Rodriguez (Evans, Colo.) continued the U.S. winning streak in his featherweight bout with Jorge Maysonet of Puerto Rico. Rodriguez enjoyed a quick start in the contest, moving out to an 11-7 lead after the first two minutes of boxing. He kept piling on the points throughout the second round, and his efforts earned Rodriguez a 20-16 lead in the fast-paced bout. Yet Maysonet chipped away at Rodriguez’s lead in the third, pulling the bout to a 25-25 tie as the final round began. Rodriguez refused to be denied, scoring 12 points in the final two minutes to win a 37-30 final decision and the fourth win of the night for the U.S. team.

Brooklyn Olympian Sadam Ali took the ring to loud support from a vocal contingent on hand for his lightweight match-up with Puerto Rico’s Reynaldo Ojeda. Ali took the first lead and never let it go, scoring early and often throughout the four rounds. He grabbed an 11-5 decision after one round, but really began to pour on the points in the second. Ali landed 16 scoring blows in the second round to take a commanding 27-9 edge at the halfway mark. He nearly recorded the mandatory stoppage win in the third but Ojeda managed to keep his lead under 20 to push the bout to the final round. Yet Ali pushed his advantage to 20 in the fourth to win a 40-20 final decision.

Light welterweight Javier Molina (Commerce, Calif.) took the record for United States Olympians to 4-0 with a stoppage win over Luis Gonzalez of Puerto Rico in their match-up. Following a slow-paced first round in which Molina kept Gonzalez from scoring a blow, the Los Angeles native turned up the heat in the second. He more than doubled his five point first round lead in the third, taking a 13-1 edge after four minutes of boxing. Molina kept up the pressure in the third, pushing his lead to 24-4 in the final seconds of the round to win the mandatory stoppage win at the 1:53 mark.

2008 National Champion Javontae Starks (Minneapolis, Minn.) claimed his first major international win in his welterweight contest with Ricardo Reyes of Puerto Rico. The bout was close through the first round with Starks holding a slim 8-5 advantage following two minutes of boxing. He continued to dictate the action in the second, pushing his lead to a 17-7 at the midway point. The trend continued in the third with Starks once again adding nine points to his total, and he enjoyed a 26-10 edge as the final round began. He held on through the final two minutes to win a 32-14 final decision.

In middleweight action, 2008 National Champion Luis Arias (Milwaukee, Wis.) kept the U.S. winning streak rolling, taking a third round retirement victory over Puerto Rico’s Enrique Collazo. Arias took the first lead in the contest, dropping Collazo to the canvas and moving out to a 7-3 advantage at the end of one round. He continued to control the action in the second, taking a 13-9 lead after four minutes of boxing. Yet the Puerto Rican coaches decided they had seen enough in the third, throwing in the towel to give Arias the win at the :03 mark of the third round.

Puerto Rico notched their second victory of the night in light heavyweight action as 2008 Olympian Carlos Negron won a third round stoppage outscored victory over Siju Shabazz (Las Cruces, N.M.). Negron led from the opening bell, enjoying a 22-6 lead after two rounds of boxing. He added four points to his total in the third stanza to win the third round stoppage at the :24 mark of the contest.

The super heavyweight division closed the action as Kimdo Bethel (Albany, N.Y.) faced off with Puerto Rico’s Juan Jacob. Bethel took the early lead in the bout and pushed it to a 15-1 advantage after two rounds. Jacob quickly grew frustrated and began to foul Bethel, but he refused to lose focus and he went on to a win a 28-5 decision.

 

Arias isn't on the Olympic Team, Shawn Estrada is. Arias won Nationals this year though, and apparently his fight at the Connecticut Classic with Shawn Porter will be televised soon. I hear it was one of the best amateur fights a lot of people had seen. And yes, Rau'shee is a beast.

 

Warren will probably win Gold. As will Demetrius Andrade I think. Gary Russel, Luis Yanez, Raynell Williams, Saddam Ali, and Javier Molina are all shots at a Silver or Gold, depending on the draw and how much they continue to improve in CS. I also think Wilder and Hunter, if he qualifies, could be medal contenders. Team USA is very strong this year, in my opinion. The interesting thing about Warren is he doesn't really play the computer system. He goes out there trying to stop people, and he's so good that usually it means doom for his opponents, he routinely stops top level US amateurs at the major tournaments, something that you don't often see.

 

Punch count. Typically in results from electronic scoring you'll see Fighter A 13+-13 Fighter B (28-20). If they threw the same number of punches then they go to a judges poll, where the criteria is effective aggression, better defense, cleaner style. In a local show where there's no computer, if the bout is tied they go straight to those three criteria, moving through them until they find a winner.

 

The clock is stopped when a standing 8 count occurs. And the ref doesn't check your gloves, he makes you wipe them on your own jersey (part of what it's there for). And three 8 counts in a round is an automatic stoppage. The much more likely thing to see if fighter A turtle up and get on his bicycle for the last 30 seconds, as scoring a clean blow that 3 judges count is hard enough, scoring 5 of them in 30 seconds is a nightmare unless your opponent is gassed and has his hands down and is stationary.

 

Molina is Mexican (his twin is on the Mexican team), and I think Yanez is Mexican too. That's the Olympic Team, at least. And Estrada at 165 is Mecian-American.