2008 Olympic Games page

Medal favourites continued their march towards the podium on the second day of the boxing competition at the 2008 Olympic Games in the Worker's Indoor Gymnasium in Beijing, China.

Two-time world championships silver medallist - 2007 (64kg) and 2003 (54kg) - Gennady Kovalev (RUS) disappointed the home fans by beating China's Qiong Maimaitituersun 15-8 in the opening bout of the day in their 64kg bout.

This was soon followed by two comprehensive victories in the same weight division with Driss Moussaid (MAR) beating Todd Kidd (AUS) 23-2 and Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo (CUB) at his elusive best in a 15-1 victory over Mahaman Smaila (CMR).

Later in the session, Ireland's John Joe Joyce beat Gyula Kate (HUN) 9-5 for the first time in four contests while one of Great Britain's high hopes Billy Joe Saunders danced his way to an impressive 14-3 win over AIBA World Championships Chicago 2007 bronze medallist Adem Kilicci (TUR) in the opening 69kg bout of the day.

"This is the best for me because it's a fairly tough draw with the World Championship bronze medallist (Kilicci) first, a Cuban (Carlos Banteaux Correa) next and the 2007 World Championships silver medallist Non Boomjumnong (THA) too," Saunders said. "I've got a long road ahead."

After three successive defeats, Joyce, 20, explained that he was desperate not to lose again to Kate, who is five year's his elder. "The guy hit me with so many right hooks in the last three fights but he couldn't touch me this time. I could see it in his eyes after two rounds that he was surprised that I was still there."

The evening session saw the two 64kg bronze medallists from the Athens Olympics - Ionut Gheorghe (ROU) and Boris Georgiev (BUL) both record impressive victories over Jonathan Gonzalez Ortiz (PUR) 21-4 and Javier Molina (USA) 14-1 respectively.

The 2008 Olympic Games Boxing Competition continues on Monday with two sessions, the first starting at 13:30 with the 57kg and 60kg divisions in action.