 Cuba's Ramirez celebrates his gold medal
[XINHUA/SYOGOC-Pool/Guo Lei]
Everybody was ready to rumble Wednesday afternoon in the International Convention Centre, obeying the MC's request, when the final matches were contested at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games boxing tournament. 22 boxers from 17 countries, the cream of the crop in the 16 to 18 years age group, stepped into the ring to fight it out for the gold medals. And when the dust settled, Cuba was the Lord of the Ring with three champions.
For starters Ryan Burnett from Belfast (the Green Island was represented by a unified Irish-Northern Irish team) stunned reigning Youth World Champion Salman Alizada of Azerbaijan. The Irishman jumped out to an early 5 to 1 lead, helped also by a warning given to Alizada for head-butting, but Burnett's counter-attacking style worked to perfection. The Azeri received a standing eight count in the third, and Burnett came out the winner by a substantial 13 to 6 margin.
"Salman had beaten me in Baku when we first met, and I learnt from that encounter that I would have to keep him under constant pressure and go close to him in order to avoid his vicious hooks. This strategy worked, and I am very, very happy now. I proved my critics wrong, as many thought that I would not be able to beat the reigning World Champion," said Burnett, a devout Catholic and church-goer.
"Everything clicked this afternoon," James Payne, Burnett's coach of Holy Family Golden Gloves Boxing Club added.
Emmanuel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico has beaten tougher opponents during his career than Dj Maaki from Nauru. He easily made good on his promise given three days ago that he would take home the gold medal from Singapore. Maaki was counted upon twice, and the referee stopped the contest in the second round, with Rodriguez leading 15-1.
"This is the first ever Olympic gold medal for my country, and it is an unbelievable feeling to be Puerto Rico's first Olympic champion. My mom is here cheering for me, which makes this victory even sweeter. We'll be celebrating and dancing all night," Rodriguez said.
Cuban southpaw Robeisy Ramirez was the runaway favourite in his bout against Shiva Thapa, but in the rematch of the Baku finals the confident Indian from the Northern province of Assam made things much more difficult for the Caribbean boxer than four months ago at the Youth Worlds (where Ramirez had won by an overwhelming 14 1 margin). However, Rodriguez came out winner 5-2.
"Actually I had a tougher time in Baku as I had to win six bouts at the Youth Worlds as opposed to the three here," Ramirez said. "Not much has changed since then except that my Indian opponent put up a more stubborn fight this time. Cuba has not won an Olympic gold medal in boxing for six years, so this makes my victory even more precious."
Youth World Champion Artur Bril of Germany - for some unknown reason - enjoyed the loud support of the partisan local crowd in his quest for the gold medal in the featherweight. He needed it, for he had a hard time beating his Azeri opponent. At least it was a close match until the midpoint of the second round (4-4), but then Bril coasted to an 11 to 4 victory.
"This gold medal is more important for me than the one I got in Baku, but - to tell the truth - the World Championships title was more difficult to reach for I had to win six matches, while here only two," the boxer from Cologne said. Bril is fluent in Russian, too, since he was born in the Russian town of Novorossiysk.
Evaldas Petrauskas might be short in centimetres but he is long on stamina and muscles. The Lithuanian lightweight's strategy was quite simple against Brett Mather of Australia: keep pushing. His relentless attacking style was too much for the taller Aussie, Mather needed a standing eight count in the second, then in the third, and Petrauskas cashed in the gold medal deservedly.
"I came here to win the gold medal and now I am very happy to have fulfilled my dream," the blond boxer from Vilnius said. "I can hardly wait to get home and celebrate this victory with my family. Next year I want to make the Lithuanian team for the Baku Elite World Championships, and then to London, the 2012 Olympic Games."
Ricardas Kuncaitis made it two out of two for Lithuania. Another taller opponent, but again the same result: a decisive victory for the Baltic country.
"I have the same coach, Vladimiras Bajevas. I train in the same club, we are very good friends with Petrauskas, and now we have the same kind of medal - the gold," said the stocky Kuncaitis from the town of Marijampol. "I had a dream, to win the gold medal at the first Youth Olympic Games, and it came true. I knew I was stronger than my Venezuelan opponent, and I proved it. This is probably the most beautiful day in Lithuanian boxing history."
David Lourenço, the defending Youth World Champion from Brazil had to come back from 0-1 down, but he did it. The final margin was 7-3. Lourenço was crying, his coach, Claudio Da Silva was crying, then the coach lifted his pupil to his shoulder, and carried Lourenço to the mixed zone.
"I cannot find words to express my feelings. I want to thank my family and my coach for this gold medal," a sobbing Lourenço said. "This is the very first Olympic gold medal for Brazil in boxing. We have been working together with David for over two years in Sao Paulo. It is hard to describe how rewarding this victory is. David had struggled to make the 69kg weight limit, he's a strong, muscular guy, with heavy bones. During the past two months, the toughest part of the preparation, I let him go home to his family as many as four times. But now it's time to celebrate," coach Da Silva said.
Damien Hooper of Australia made his gold medal bout against Juan Carlos Carrillo of Colombia a one man show. After an even first round he started the second with a vengeance and went on to display a vast array of stunning boxing skills on his way to a 12-4 victory.
"He's a natural," Hooper's coach of two years Mark Wilson said. "For him the sky is the limit. He's strong, talented, quick and fearless. He's already a champion, and he's going to be a great one."
"I was discovered by my first coach Don Abnatt back in Dalby, my hometown of 5000 inhabitants. I come from an aboriginal family, and the NTID programme and scholarship have made my progress possible. Where's the end of the road? Maybe in London, on top of the Olympic podium," Hooper said.
Irosvani Duverger is a far superior boxer to Burak Aksin on paper - and in the ring, too. The Cuban Youth World Champion steadily increased his advantage from start to end, and won the slugfest by 12-4 against the Turk, thus securing the second gold medal of the afternoon for the Caribbean island.
"My opponent closed down himself like a shell, it was extremely difficult to open up his defence, but my coach Humberto Horta had given me the right piece of advice and I solved the problem. The secret of Cuban boxing's successes is very simple: lots of work, good preparation and sacrifice. I have two plans for the immediate future: to win the Elite World Championships in Baku and the Olympic Games in London," Duverger emphasized.
Lenier Pero completed the Cuban hat-trick of gold medals in the heavyweight. It did not last long: at the midpoint of the first round Pero connected with a vicious straight left right to Fabio Turchi's chin, and the Italian heavyweight was unable to continue. The referee counted him out. Technically it was an RSCH.
"I had made up my mind not to spend too much time in the ring. When the first opportunity came I made my move," Pero said.
The 77th - and last - bout of the Youth Olympic Games was a highly anticipated one. Dubbed the Clash of the Titans, featuring two almost two meter tall giants, one from New Zealand, the other from France, the match lived up to its billing. Frenchman Tony Yoka seemed the more skilled, better prepared boxer, slowly but surely built a lead, and won the bout - and the final gold medal of the tournament - by a three point margin.
"It was tough, especially mentally," the Parisian boxer said. "In the third round I had to give it all, both of us were very tired, but I had more fuel in the tank than him. I am grateful to my Cuban training partners. I had had my preparation for the tournament in Cuba, and it showed."
Tony Yoka had another reason to rejoice: he was named Best Boxer of the YOG boxing tournament. China's Li Qingsheng picked up the award for best referee and judge.
The 11 gold medals were won by 8 countries: 3 golds went to Cuba, 2 to Lithuania, 1 to Ireland, Puerto Rico, Germany, Brazil, Australia and France respectively.
Gold medal matches
Youth Olympic Games, Singapore
Wednesday, 25 August, 2010
Light Fly 48 kg Salman Alizada (AZE)-Ryan Burnett (IRL) 6 to 13
Fly 51 kg Dj Maaki (NRU)-Emmanuel Rodriguez (PUR) RSC 2nd round
Bantam 54 kg Shiva Thapa (IND)-Robeisy Ramirez (CUB) 2 to 5
Feather 57 kg Artur Bril (GER)-Elvin Isayev (AZE) 11 to 4
Light 60 kg Brett Mather (AUS)-Evaldas Petrauskas (LIT) 4 to 11
Light Welter 64 kg Ricardas Kuncaitis (LIT)-Samuel Zapata (VEN) 12 to 6
Welter 69 kg Ahmad Mamadjanov (UZB)-David Lourenço (BRA) 3 to 7
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