Olympics 2020 boxing results (Day 10, Afternoon): ROC’s Batyrgaziev, Cuba’s la Cruz advance to gold medal bouts, more

We’ve got two more gold medal hopefuls in place after today’s second session in Tokyo.

By Scott Christ@scblh1 Aug 3, 2021, 6:20am EDT

Scott Christ is the managing editor of Bad Left Hook and has been covering boxing for SB Nation since 2006.

Women’s lightweight (Quarterfinals)

Beatriz Ferreira (Brazil) def. Raykhona Kodirova (Uzbekistan), 5:0: Ferreira way too much for Kodirova here, wasn’t really competitive. Ferreira kinda cruised through the first two rounds and Kodirova did keep giving it a go, but she needed something special in the third and it wasn’t there. The 28-year-old Ferreira won gold at the 2019 Worlds and 2019 Pan-American Games, and is the three-seed in Tokyo. She’s fighting like a serious contender, and did not take her foot off the gas in round three even though the fight was locked up.
Mira Potkonen (Finland) def. Esra Yildiz (Turkey), 3:2: Potkonen won bronze in 2016, she’s guaranteed at least that same medal here. The 40-year-old was docked a point in the third round, but she also still won the round on four cards, and goes through on scores of 29-27 her way on three cards, with the other two are 29-27 for Yildiz.

Galal Yafai (Great Britain) def. Yosbany Veitia (Cuba), 4:1: Styles can make fights at every level, three rounds or 12, and Yafai has now proven multiple times he has and can execute the style that gives the Cuban fits. He just worked, worked, worked, all pressure, but I do think the commentary overstated his dominance. Veitia was throwing back plenty in the fight, which was really exciting and good to watch, but yeah, Yafai deserves the win and moves on, guaranteeing Great Britain’s sixth medal of the Tokyo Olympics. This has become a top-flight boxing program, period. It wasn’t just a fluke of London, they’re really good. Veitia had to get dragged into Yafai’s game, and try as he may, he just lost the fight.
Saken Bibossinov (Kazakhstan) def. Gabriel Escobar (Spain), 3:2: Was mildly surprised by the outcome here. It was even up after two rounds, one card 20-18 for Bibossinov, one 20-18 for Escobar despite him being knocked down in the first round (Australian judge, if you’re wondering). The third round was lousy, honestly, nobody really put a stamp on it, but I thought Escobar did just the slight bit more. Two key judges — Russia and Morocco — disagreed, and despite winning the final round 3-2, Escobar didn’t get the right three cards, only one of those that were 19-19 after two. Debatable outcome, but hard to say Escobar went out and took it when it was on the line, either.

Albert Batyrgaziev (Russian Olympic Committee) def. Lazaro Alvarez (Cuba), 3:2: Alvarez won bronze at London 2012 as a bantamweight, bronze at Rio 2016 as a lightweight, and now it’s bronze at Tokyo 2020 as a featherweight. This one was certainly debatable, as it basically hinged on three cards going into the third round, and Batyrgaziev got two of them, which is what both sides needed. This was really well-boxed, hardly any holding at all, they just kept working. Batyrgaziev now moves on to the final on Thursday to face Duke Ragan of the United States.

Andy Cruz (Cuba) def. Wanderson de Oliveira (Brazil), 4:1: Keyshawn Davis, who advanced to the semifinals in the top half of this draw earlier, has been on record: He expects to win gold, and he expects to face Andy Cruz in the final. When you watch Cruz, you know why Davis expects him to be the one there at the end. When on his game, he has just a terrific style, it blends basic effectiveness with the best of the “Cuban style” as generally thought of (not saying they all fight the same, but you know what I mean if you’ve seen a lot of them). de Oliveira had a solid first round, competitive, but Cruz kind of took over from there.
Harry Garside (Australia) def. Zakir Safiullin (Kazakhstan), 3:2: Garside is the last Aussie boxer standing, and he moves on to the semifinal, guaranteed at least a bronze. He’ll have a huge ask against Cruz, but he’s such an interesting boxer to watch so far. I think he got a bit lucky against Jonas Jonas of Namibia in the quarters, and this one was a break that could’ve gone the other way, too. These two were basically boxing for Moroccan judge Bachir Abbar in the third round, as the rest of the cards were 2-0 one way or the other, two for Garside and two for Safiullin. Abbar favored Garside in the third, as did the two judges who previously had it 2-0 for Safiullin, and the two judges who had it 2-0 for Garside both went with Safiullin in the third. Wild.

Julio la Cruz (Cuba) def. Abner Teixeira (Brazil), 4:1: la Cruz won gold as a light heavyweight in Rio, and he’s going for another one next, this time at heavyweight, when he faces the ROC’s Muslim Gadzhimagomedov on Friday. Teixeira leaves with bronze. la Cruz and Gadzhimagomedov have very different styles, but both are extremely effective if they get the fight going the way they want, and it’s a potentially terrific style matchup, at least in terms of seeing what happens, even if it doesn’t wind up action-packed.