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The first day of Olympic boxing in London has come and gone, and here are the results from the second session in the middleweight division this afternoon, with second round matchups for August 2 listed at the bottom.
[ Morning Results: Bantamweight / Middleweight ]
[ Afternoon Results: Bantamweight ]
Middleweight (165 lbs/75 kg)
Abbos Atoev (Uzbekistan) def. Badr-Eddine Haddioui (Morocco), 11-9: I thought this was scored a bit closer than it should have been, but the right guy won. Haddioui did have a solid third round, but it wasn't enough to get him through.
Terrell Gausha (United States) def. Andranik Hakobyan (Armenia) via stoppage (round three): Gausha started a bit off in this one, but settled down in the second half of the opening round. He was down 8-7 heading into the third, but late in the round floored Hakobyan twice and got the win. This is a really nice win for Gausha, and starts Team USA off 2-0. First stoppage of the tournament.
Vijender Singh (India) def. Danabek Suzhanov (Kazakhstan), 14-10: Good fight, both had their moments and it was well-contested. Singh won bronze in Beijing four years ago, and now he moves on to face Gausha in the round of 16 on August 2. That could be interesting. Singh has the advantage in technique, I believe, but Gausha's power looks serious. I'm really looking forward to that one.
Adem Kilicci (Turkey) def. Nursahat Pazziyev (Turkmenistan), 14-7: Kilicci fought in the 2008 games but lost to Billy Joe Saunders in the first round. This time he gets through with a clear victory over Pazziyev, and showed some solid skills.
Aleksandar Drenovak (Serbia) def. Marlo Delgado (Ecuador), 13-12: As tough a fight to score as we saw all day. Delgado led by one after the first (4-3), Drenovak by one after the second (7-6), and then they split the third 6-6. Tough to choose between them, and someone had to go home. A tough break for Delgado, a nice win for Drenovak, and those names easily could have been the other way.
Abdelmalek Rahou (Algeria) def. Jesse Ross (Australia), 13-11: The second round, which went to Rahou 4-2, which was questionable, and wound up the difference in a competitive fight. Rahou moves on to face Japan's Ryoto Murata, a top gold medal hope in the division.
Updated Brackets For Round of 16 (August 2)
Ievgen Khytrov (Ukraine) vs Anthony Ogogo (Great Britain)
Darren O'Neill (Ireland) vs Stefan Hartel (Germany)
Mujandjae Kasuto (Namibia) vs Zoltan Harcsa (Hungary)
Soltan Miginitov (Azerbaijan) vs Esquiva Falcao Florentino (Brazil)
Bogdan Juratoni (Romania) vs Abbos Atoev (Uzbekistan)
Terrell Gausha (United States) vs Vijender Singh (India)
Adem Kilicci (Turkey) vs Aleksandar Drenovak (Serbia)
Abdelmalek Rahou (Algeria) vs Ryoto Murata (Japan)