{"id":33349,"date":"2021-08-02T07:01:07","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T07:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/?p=33349"},"modified":"2021-08-02T07:01:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T07:01:07","slug":"olympics-2020-results-day-9-afternoon-torrez-ends-long-u-s-drought-two-cubans-advance-to-gold-matches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/?p=33349","title":{"rendered":"Olympics 2020 results (Day 9, Afternoon): Torrez ends long U.S. drought, two Cubans advance to gold matches"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><figcaption>Photo by LUIS ROBAYO\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Richard Torrez Jr is the first U.S. super heavyweight medalist since 1988, and much more.<\/p>\n<h2>Women\u2019s flyweight (Quarterfinals)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Tsukimi Namiki def. Ingrit Valencia (Colombia), 5:0: <\/strong>Valencia won bronze in Rio, but she\u2019ll go home from Tokyo empty-handed, losing to the host country fighter, who just moved around and darted in and out too quickly, landing little flurries and getting away before Valencia could do much in return. She\u2019s the second qualified women\u2019s boxing medalist from Japan at these Olympics, following Sena Irie, who is set for the gold medal match at featherweight. In the round of 16, we saw Valencia trade with plenty of fire against fellow vet Mary Kom, but Kom doesn\u2019t move anymore like Namiki does. Namiki\u2019s feet just gave Valencia fits, and Namiki is now guaranteed at least bronze.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"e-image\"><img alt=\"BOXING-OLY-2020-2021-TOKYO\" data-mask-text=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1234370002.jpg\"><cite>Photo by THEMBA HADEBE\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/cite><br \/>\n  <\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Stoyka Krasteva (Bulgaria) def. Yuan Chang (China), 4:1: <\/strong>Abnormally slow and fairly dull for a flyweight bout, but Krasteva\u2019s work was that important bit better. They have similar styles, so a lot of the fight was spent staring and posturing, much more than you see in most Olympic fights. Krasteva, who fought at London 2012 but didn\u2019t go to Rio 2016 and flirted with retiring for a while, feeling top level success was probably past her, now has at least a bronze medal at 35.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Men\u2019s featherweight (Quarterfinals)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Lazaro Alvarez (Cuba) def. Chatchai-decha Butdee (Thailand), 3:2: <\/strong>Alvarez won bronze in London as a bantamweight and again in Rio as a lightweight. He\u2019s got bronze guaranteed but wants more here in Tokyo. A lot of people are not going to remember how good of an amateur fighter Chatchai Butdee is, because prior to London his talk was this was going to be his last Olympics, and if so, he goes out without an Olympic medal. But I\u2019ve seen him fight at three Olympics now. He is a terrific fighter, and he pushed Alvarez to his limit here in an extremely close affair. If this was it for him, he goes out with true pride.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"e-image\"><img alt=\"BOXING-OLY-2020-2021-TOKYO\" data-mask-text=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1234370949.jpg\"><cite>Photo by THEMBA HADEBE\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/cite><br \/>\n  <\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Albert Batyrgaziev (Russian Olympic Committee) def. Tsendbaatar Erdenebat (Mongolia), 3:2:<\/strong> Batyrgaziev, the No. 2 seed, was down 5-0 after the first round, and was down 20-18 on three cards going into the third. That meant he needed something special. We\u2019ve seen that a lot. It\u2019s extremely rare to see \u201csomething special\u201d happen in the third. But according to one key judge \u2014 the Algerian judge, Mohamed Besmi \u2014 Batyrgaziev did it, and by forcing a standing eight count on Erdenebat in the third, he got a 10-8 round. That meant there were four cards of 29-28, two apiece, and one card (Besmi\u2019s) of 28-28, who chose Batyrgaziev as his \u201cpreferred winner.\u201d Heartbreak for Erdenebat, about as close as it gets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Men\u2019s welterweight (Semifinal)<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"e-image\"><img alt=\"BOXING-OLY-2020-2021-TOKYO\" data-mask-text=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1234371643.jpg\"><cite>Photo by THEMBA HADEBE\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/cite><br \/>\n  <\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Roniel Iglesias (Cuba) def. Andrey Zamkovoy (Russian Olympic Committee), 5:0: <\/strong>Iglesias moves on to face Great Britain\u2019s Pat McCormack for gold. The 34-year-old Zamkovoy is still very capable, a 2012 bronze medalist, standout internationally for years, but this is the level he falls short at at this point, just couldn\u2019t handle the all-around skill set of Iglesias. But Zamkovoy gets another bronze medal, while Iglesias looks for his second Olympic gold, following one at the now-defunct light welterweight in 2012. (He also won bronze in Beijing in 2008 and did not medal at Rio 2016.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Men\u2019s middleweight (Quarterfinals)<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"e-image\"><img alt=\"BOXING-OLY-2020-2021-TOKYO\" data-mask-text=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1234371854.jpg\"><cite>Photo by THEMBA HADEBE\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/cite><br \/>\n  <\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Hebert Sousa (Brazil) def. Amilkhan Amankul (Kazakhstan), 3:2: <\/strong>Was close through two rounds, four judges gave Sousa the last one and he\u2019s through to the semifinals, guaranteed at least a bronze. Sousa\u2019s a real character, even when it\u2019s not going all his way you wouldn\u2019t be able to tell just paying attention to his confidence and body language. He\u2019s that kind of guy.<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Gleb Bakshi (Russian Olympic Committee) def. Dennis Valsaint Jr (Haiti), 5:0: <\/strong>Valsaint, a Miami native representing Haiti, really tried to rough this up, and that gave Bakshi problems in the first round especially, where Valsaint won three cards. But it became clear that Valsaint was taking that approach because flat-out, he can\u2019t beat Bakshi in a boxing contest. Not at this stage of their respective careers. And the danger with constantly grappling, wrestling, holding, etc. is you might lose a point or get DQ\u2019d. Valsaint did lose a point in the second. Bakshi was just better, and won as he should have.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Men\u2019s light heavyweight (Semifinal)<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"e-image\"><img alt=\"Boxing - Olympics: Day 9\" data-mask-text=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1331761148.jpg\"><cite>Photo by Buda Mendes\/Getty Images<\/cite><br \/>\n  <\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Arlen Lopez (Cuba) def. Loren Alfonso Dominguez (Azerbaijan), 5:0: <\/strong>Lopez advances to the gold medal match to face Ben Whittaker of Great Britain. He won gold in Rio as a middleweight, looks for another here. This was the second Cuban vs ex-Cuban matchup in Tokyo, and the Cubans won both. Here, Dominguez started really well in the first, playing good defense, landing enough sharp counters, but Lopez stopped loading up so much and took over from there. It was 29-28 across the board, as it should have been.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Men\u2019s super heavyweight (Quarterfinals)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Richard Torrez Jr (United States) def. Dainier Pero (Cuba), 4:1: <\/strong>Torrez won this on pure hustle in the third round, as he had the better engine. Pero had an argument with some good shots landed early in the round, and I was convinced the judges would nick it his way \u2014 four cards were even after two rounds \u2014 but they liked the effort of Torrez more. Both were exhausted by the end, as they cut a wild pace for big guys in the first two, but it was Pero who showed it more obviously. With Torrez guaranteed at least bronze, he\u2019s broken a long cold streak for the United States, who have not won a medal in this division since Riddick Bowe\u2019s silver in 1988. The last gold was Tyrell Biggs in 1984.<\/li>\n<li>\n<strong>Kamshybek Kunkabayev (Kazakhstan) def. Ivan Veriasov (Russian Olympic Committee), 4:1: <\/strong>Veriasov\u2019s going to be kicking himself over the first round here, where he allowed Kunkabayev to box too comfortably. After that, Veriasov was plenty competitive \u2014 if he\u2019d split that first round up, he might be moving on to the semis. He did not.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by LUIS ROBAYO\/AFP via Getty Images Richard Torrez Jr is the first U.S. super heavyweight medalist since 1988, and much more. Women\u2019s flyweight (Quarterfinals) Tsukimi Namiki def. Ingrit Valencia (Colombia), 5:0: Valencia won bronze in Rio, but she\u2019ll go home from Tokyo empty-handed, losing to the host country fighter, who just moved around and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}