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The heavyweights are underway now in London, as the first three bouts in the division took place this morning. Team USA is one-and-done in the division, but the brother of a top pro moved on in the morning's second bout.
Our live coverage continues here, with the super heavyweights next, with their first four bouts.
[ Full London 2012 Boxing Coverage ]
[ Morning Results: Bantamweight ]
Artur Beterbiev (Russia) def. Michael Hunter Jr (United States), 10-10 on countback: Really not a good start for the heavyweights, as neither was impressive. Both showed major fatigue in the third round, but Beterbiev worked more when they held on to one another. Really kind of an awful fight to watch. I'm trying to avoid pessimism here, but this was lousy. Team USA falls to 4-4 overall, and the decision was fair enough. Neither really deserved to win, but someone had to get the duke. Top-seeded Oleksandr Usyk will face Beterbiev next.
Tervel Pulev (Bulgaria) def. Xuanxuan Wang (China), 10-7: Pulev, the brother of European pro champion Kubrat Pulev, scored a pair of knockdowns, but the second of them was on a clear low blow. Referee just missed it, even though Wang complained about his wang immediately. Replays showed it as obvious, but the initial angle didn't make it seem so, either, so hard to get too sore at the referee. Pulev was solid.
Yamil Peralta (Argentina) def. Chouaib Bouloudinats (Algeria), 13-5: Bouloudinats was the No. 4 seed, but he was pretty well handled here by Peralta in a fairly decent upset. Peralta was tall, long, used his jab, and fought well from the outside. Bouloudinats went down in round two on a legit shot.