New Website

Obviously this blog is old and now outdated. The Olympics are over and I’m no longer in China – that’s the bad news. The good news is there’s a new website in town and I’m the sheriff. It’s all about Asian boxing thus it’s titled, Asian Boxing News. You can catch up on Asian boxing if you simply go to:

www.asianboxingnews.com

Enjoy it!

August 17

It’s been a long, long day and there was one show instead of two. My wife called around 9:30 AM, I woke up moments before she called and was half asleep. By the time I got to the press center, it was 11:00. I worked on my photos for a few hours, and then toke a walk to the Super Store where i bought a couple of Olympic pins. Little did I know there would be a few thousand people lining up to get inside. Before I could change my mind, there was no way out. I was surrounded by eager Chinese, all pushing and shoving to get as far to the front as possible. There were lines to get into lines and it took me 90 minutes to get inside. Guess that’s the price you pay when you’re in a country with nearly a billion and a half people. Anyhow, I eventually worked my way inside, took all of 5 minutes to find a couple pins, then stood in line for another 30 minutes to pay,

There was a Mcdonald’s across the street so, having not eaten all day, I decided to go for the health food route; a McChicken sandwhich. There was one table open so I grabbed it. Three young kids decided to sit with me, uninvited of course, then promptly asked if I wanted a chicken McNugget. I passed.

By the time I got back to the press center, I was out of time. it was time to head out to Workers gymnasium. for the evening bouts.

Demetrius “Boo-Boo” Andrande was the first American to fight and guess what, he lost. Now I’m not going to bash the scoring but in this case, I thought he beat the Korean by a slim margin. It really saddiens me to see the Americans go down in flames like this. Andrade put in a good effort – but not good enough. Sometimes, a good effort isn’t good enough. If I were to criticize one thing about the American team it would be their mental strength. It just didn’t seem like they were there, sort of like they were just going through the motions.

When America’s last hope for a medal, Deontay Wilder, stepped in the ring, I thought to myself, just what brings the boxing down from being a great boxing power to a level where a heavyweight with mediocre to decent skills at best is the only hope for a medal. You can blame it on the coach all you want but it seems to me America’s boxing program is in sore need of an overhaul. These kids had plenty of international experience, plenty of training, and some decent to excellent skills in some cases. So what’s the reason for the failure? I don’t know there’s one answer to this question but nonetheless, I think it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

FYI – Deontay Wilder got thru to the semi-finals by the skin of his…in winning the judges decision (the score was 11-11 at the end of the fight), he got a break. A break the U.S. team could definitely use. Whether or not he has what it takes to win his next bout remains to be seen. He’ll face Clemente Russo on Friday, so he’s got some time to rest up. Russo is good though, beating my favorite of the tournament, Oleksandr Usyk, rather easily. Wilder will be lucky to win gold… 

At super heavyweight, David Price of the Uk goes up against Lithuania’s Jaroslav Jaksto. Just like the U.S., Great Britain could use the win.

BTW – let me once again give thanks to DC Amateur for helping make this trip possible. Not only do they work hard at furthering amateur boxing, they also have a great collection of amateur fights on You Tube.

August 15th

Mongolian and Kazakstanian fans have quickly become an annoyance for the Chinese security at the Workers Gymnasium where boxing takes place each day. Although tickets are for assigned seats, for some reason the Mongolian and Kazakstani fans seem to think they can sit wherever they like, including the sections reserved for media and photo. Now this generally wouldn’t be much of a problem but when there are a few hundred of them, all rowdy and all weighing in around 250-300 lbs, the diminutive female volunteers are understandably apprehensive about moving them. Push almost came to shove when they pulled the old, “sorry, no English” routine. The wiry, old, no-nonsense head of Chinese security asked them to leave once, then twice but they wouldn’t budge. The security guard blew his top and he began barking out orders to them in Chinese. He then grabbed one of the Mongolians by the wrist and guided him out of his chair. He then told the others, in Chinese, to follow him. They all rose one by one and thankfully, went away to where I do not know – but I was glad to see them go. The Kazakhstan lot were no better, in fact, one went so far try to peel off the media sticker from the back of the chair so he could sit in it. “No sticker, no problem,” he said. That didn’t work either though and once again the Chinese security called for reinforcements. A few minutes later, after the Khazakstani boxers lost his bout, they left…thankfully. It’s hard to tell if they really just don’t understand or if they don’t care about the rules but tomorrow night the Luis Yanez of the U.S. faces Mongolia’s Serdamba Purevdorj, and emotions for the bout are certain to be high. If you’ve ever seen Latka Sim fight, you know one thing – Mongolians are a tough bunch and Yanez is going to have to be at his best if he doesn’t want to go home. It just dawned on me; amateur boxing is about how man times you can hit your opponent cleanly and sprinting the distance. Professional boxing is about the destroying your opponent, and breaking him down until he capitulates, willingly or unwillingly. Until later…