Olympic Boxing Draw: Light Welterweight

Quick thoughts on the Light Welterweight Olympic boxing draw.
Official Link to the Light Welterweight Draw

Light Welterweight (64 kg / 140 lbs.)
The good news for American Javier Molina is that he won’t face the 2007 World Championships gold, silver, and one of its bronze medalists until the Olympic gold medal match. They’re all in the top half of the bracket. The bad news is that he’s drawn impressive Bulgarian Boris Georgiev, quarterfinalist at the Worlds, in the first round. Should he defeat Georgiev is almost assured a trip to the Olympic quarters.

Waiting there could be the other 2007 bronze medalist “Buzzing” Brad Saunders who defeated Molina in Chicago 24-12.

The top half of the bracket’s four stars all could advance and meet up in an exciting quarterfinals. The runaway favorite of these four is Kazakh Serik Sapiyev who destroyed his competition at Chicago 2007. He defeated Russian Gennady Kovalev 20-5 in the final and the referee stopped his semifinal bout against Japan’s Masatsugu Kawachi in the third round.

The wild card in the bracket’s top half is Cuban Roniel Iglesias. Cuba did not compete in Chicago and is looking to make an impression at Beijing 2008.

First Round
Sunday, August 10
First Session 1:30 a.m. – 3:00 a.m. EST
Second Session 7:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. EST

Round of 16
Thursday, August 14
7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. EST

Quarterfinals
Saturday, August 17
7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. EST

Semifinals
Friday, August 22
2:30 a.m. – 3:00 a.m. EST

Final
Saturday, August 23
8:15 a.m. EST