Here are my Olympic Boxing Semi-Final predictions for the middleweight and heavyweights. These bouts will take place on Friday the 22nd at 3:00 a.m. EST (middle) and 3:30 a.m. (heavy). We’ll analyze how I did on Saturday. (Jabandgrapple picks in bold)

Middleweight Semifinals
Darren Sutherland (IRL) vs. James Degale (GBR)
Sutherland likes to scrap and that makes him a jabandgrapple favorite. He throws punches, combination even! He boxes, he engages his opponent, he doesn’t dance and he works hard. These shouldn’t be unique qualities in a boxing tourney but these Olympic Games aren’t just any competition. In the quarters he beat the …read more

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

Middleweight (75kg / 165 lbs)
The first round of the Olympic middleweight tourney is over and we’ve already seen a rematch of a 2007 Chicago World Championship quarterfinal bout. Bronze winner Bakhtiyar Artayev from Kazakhstan began his difficult Beijing path by defeating Said Rachidi from Morroco again. The match wasn’t as high scoring as Bakhtiyar’s 19-11 defeat of Said in Chicago but the 8-2 score was just as decisive.
Next up for Artayev is 2007 gold medalist Russian Matvey Korobov who looked very good in defeating Sweden’s Terbunja Naim …read more