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 2007 silver medalist Alfonso Blanco 11-1. The score wasn’t nearly that lopsided and it was a great match to watch and Sutherland (as well as Blanco) might have a successful pro career in his future.

And Degale? Well, he beat the Athens 2004 boxer of the tourney Bakhtiyar Artayev in the semis 8-3. How the awkward, gawky Kazakh could ever have been voted most outstanding is beyond us. Evidently aesthetics weren’t involved in the decision. The southpaw Degale seemed to have confused Artayev with his frequent backtracking and lunging left-hand jabs.

Degale described his style to announcer Jim Gray as hit-move-hit-move-hit-move. Gray responded by complementing his dancing. Sutherland’s style is more hit-hit-hit-hit. For the love of boxing let’s hope the Irishman wins.

Emilio Correa (CUB) vs. Vijender Kumar (IND)
Correa is yet another skilled Cuban boxer. In the first round of Emilio’s quarterfinal matchup he circled the ring looking for spots and openings. But in the second he switched to aggressor and successfully hunted down his opponent. Correa’s dad, Emilio Sr., won the Olympic welterweight gold in 1972 and we think his son is going to repeat his father’s accomplishment, or at least make the finals.

3:00 a.m. - 3:30 a.m. EST

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Heavyweight Semifinals

Osmay Acosta (CUB) vs. Rakhim Chakhkeiv (RUS)
Haven’t been impressed with either of these two heavyweights. Will go with Acosta not because the Cubans have been getting some friendly judging while the Russians have been getting the shaft. I like Chakhkeiv a lot better. Goes to show how horrible Olympic boxing has become.

Deontay Wilder (USA) vs. Clemente Russo (ITA)
I like Wilder and think the raw prospect might be a good pro but the stylized, experienced awkwardness of Russo is too much for the Tuscaloosa tornado.

Here are my Olympic Boxing Semi-Final predictions for the flyweight, featherweight and light welterweight. These bouts will take place on Friday the 22nd at 1:30 a.m. EST (fly), 2:00 a.m. EST (feather) and 2:30 a.m. (light welter). We’ll analyze how I did on Saturday. (Jabandgrapple picks in bold)

Flyweight Semifinals

Andry Laffita (CUB) vs. Georgy Balakshin (RUS)
When Olympic boxing began most expected a lot of Cuba vs. Russia medal matchups. Then something strange happened: the vaunted Russians couldn’t get points from the judges while the Cubans got every benefit of the doubt. Laffita is a very experienced fighter who really enjoys running. Punching…not so much. Can Balakshin cut off the ring and corner the little dancer? We’re going to say so and hope the Slavic aggressor gets some points scored.

Vincenzo Picardi (ITA) vs. Somjit Jongjohor (THA)
This is a matchup of 2007 World Championship medalists. Picardi earned the bronze after dropping that semi match to Jongjohor 13-2. The eventual champion was American Rau’shee Warren. What happened to him? Don’t ask. Jongjohor hasn’t been that impressive so far in Beijing but we see no reason why history shouldn’t repeat itself. Expect the score to be about 7-1; the Thai boxer hasn’t been that active with his punching.

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Featherweight Semifinals

Yakup Kilic (TUR) vs. Vasyl Lomachenko (UKR)
Lomachenko, the 2007 World Championship silver medalist, has been extremely impressive at Beijing. He began the competition by beating the 2007 gold medalist and has skated ever since. How good has Vasyl been? In his quarterfinal matchup he beat a Chinese boxer 12-3 in spite of the judging favoritism. Lomachenko might be the surest bet for gold in the tourney.

Khedafi Djelkhir (FRA) vs. Shahin Imranov (AZE)
Neither of these two boxers excite me. Djelkhir beat American Raynell Williams by the skin of his teeth. I’m going with Imranov out of spite.

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Light Welterweight Semifinals

Manus Boonjumnong (THA) vs. Ronniel Iglesias (CUB)
In the quarters Boonjumnong beat the 2007 gold medalist, Iglesias beat the silver winner. That’s good enough for me. Manus is the pick.

Felix Manuel Diaz Guzman (DOM) vs. Alexis Vastine (FRA)
Vastine has had the tougher path taking out 2007 bronze winner Bradley Saunders while Guzman struggled with lightly regarded Irishman John Joe Joyce a/k/a Triple J.

Here are my Olympic Boxing Semi-Final predictions for the welterweights, light heavyweights, and super heavyweights. These bouts will take place on Friday the 22nd at 8:30 a.m. EST (welter), 9:00 a.m. (light heavy) and 9:30 a.m. (super heavy). We’ll analyze how I did on Saturday. (Jabandgrapple picks in bold)

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Welterweight Semifinals

Carlos Banteaux (CUB) vs. Hanati Silamu (CHN)
Banteaux and Hanati are the top two ranked remaining competitors. I shudder to say fighters because the Chinese have done little fighting during this competition. This match could be 20-19 given the ease with which Cubans and Chinese have received points from the judges this tourney. I’m pulling for Banteaux because Hanati beat one of my favorites of the tourney: Bahama’s Toureano Johnson.

Bakhyt Sarsekbayev (KAZ) vs. Kim Jung-Joo (KOR)
For the love of boxing lets hope that the hug specialist that is Kim does not win. Kim beat terrific American prospect Demetrius Andrade with phantom-landing jabs and many embraces. Was his victory as egregious as the Korean’s win over Roy Jones, Jr. in 1988? Possibly. Go Sarsekbayev!

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Light Heavyweight Semifinals

Tony Jeffries (GBR) vs. Kenneth Egan (IRL)
It’s a battle of British Isle brutes. Both waltzed through their quarterfinal matchup - Jeffries 10-2 Egan 8-0 - and have clinched a rare boxing medal for the Anglophone world. Jeffries isn’t the most graceful fighter but he throws far more jabs than your average Olympian, which is refreshing because it makes the sport seem more like actual boxing. But Egan is a tough, strong, physical fighter and he’s our pick because we don’t understand a word of what he says in his post-fight interviews.

Zhang Xiaoping (CHN) vs. Yerkebuian Shynaliyev (KAZ)
Shynaliyev won his fight against Djakhon Kurbanov after the Tajik bit him in the neck. He’ll be too bothered by Zhang’s rough and tumble clutching style. Either that or the biased pro-Chinese judges with give Zhang the win.

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Super Heavyweight Semifinals

Vyacheslav Glazkov (UKR) vs. Zhang Zhilei (CHN)
Zhang is a ba-a-a-a-d man. Maybe you missed his destruction of Kazakh Ruslan Myrsatayev. I didn’t. Zhang doesn’t hold and grab as much as the other Chinese boxers and he’s my pick despite my Ukrainian blood.

Roberto Cammarelle (ITA) vs. David Price (GBR)
Price took out Russian Islam Timurziev in his first match and then lucked into a walkover against Jaroslav Jaksto in the quarters. Defending world champ Cammarelle has been less than impressive. I’m going for the upset.

Here are my Olympic Boxing Semi-Final predictions for the light flyweights, bantamweights, and lightweights. These bouts will take place on Friday the 22nd at 7:00 a.m. EST (light fly), 7:30 a.m. (bantam) and 8:00 a.m. (light). We’ll analyze how I did on Saturday.

Light Flyweight Semifinals

Paddy Barnes (IRL) vs. Zou Shiming (CHN)
Paddy Barnes has yet to face especially formidable competition. That changes against two-time world champion and home crowd favorite Zou Shiming. Zou’s awkward punch-and-grab style might be harsh on the eyes and he may have rightly lost his second round bout against Nordine Oubaali but there is zero chance he loses to Barnes.

Purevdori Serdamba (MGL) vs. Yampier Hernandez (CUB)
Yampier has been dominant in Beijing winning his last to bouts 21-6 and 21-3. That’s right, the judges actually gave someone 20 points in this tourney. Unbelievable. Mongolia’s Purevdori Serdamba unfairly squeaked by American Luis Yanez and his style is more suited to wrestling. If the boxing gods are in Beijing (and it’s doubtful that they are) then Hernandez wins big again.

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Bantamweight Semifinals

Yankiel Leon (CUB) vs. Bruno Julie (MRI)
Julie might be the only African boxing medalist. Odds are it’s going to be a bronze. Leon has been a lot tidier in his matches and should dominate the Indian Ocean islander. The gold is Leon’s to lose.

Veaceslav Gojan (MDA) vs. Enkhbat Badar-Uugan (MGL)
Moldova vs. Mongolia. Only in Olympic boxing. Gojan won his first round match 1-1. One to One! How much holding do you think happened in that match. I can’t abide by that. Go Badar-Uugan.

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Lightweight Semifinals

Hrachik Javakhyan (ARM) vs. Alexey Tishchenko (RUS)
Javakhyan has yet to have a point scored against him. How’s that possible? First round bye. Second round 12-0 against the very inexperienced Nigerian Rasheed Lawal. Third round walkover. His astounding streak will end against Tishchenko who has been one of the more attractive (conventional) boxers in this stinker of an Olympic tournament. Alexey fights as if he is in a boxing match. Mercy me!

Yordenis Ugas (CUB) vs. Daouda Sow (FRA)
Both Ugas and Sow faced tough competition in the quarters and both emerged with close wins. Ugas is a smooth, confident fighter, Sow is an octopus-like grabber. Let’s hope Ugas can outsmart Sow’s awkwardness. If Ugas wins boxing fans will be the victor.

After three solid days of non-stop Olympic boxing television viewing I’ve finally decided what sport reminds me of…and it ain’t good. Olympic boxing brings back memories of a Christmas past when I asked for and received a video game I had been anticipating for months. A video game that had deep game play and required countless hours of play to finish.

I quickly unwrapped the present started the console machine and plopped myself in front of the television for what would be hours of non-stop gaming. Over the first few hours I was disappointed in the clunky game play, stupid puzzles, and the lack of fun but I soldiered on.

Maybe things would get better.

About six hours later I was about a third of the way through and I reluctantly admitted what I knew to be true shortly after I had started: the game stunk, was boring, and very little fun. The fact that the game bore such a resemblance to other much superior genre games only made its shortcomings more frustrating.

At that point I was faced with a choice:

Do I continue playing, hope it gets better, and reach the promised harder levels and more exciting action? Or do I just cut my loses, return the game and hope the powers that be improve the game play in the sequel?

That’s the choice I’ve come to with Olympic Boxing. The sport is unbearable to watch. The scoring system is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in the sporting world. Given the emphasis on running, it is astounding that Olympic Boxing isn’t included in the Track and Field Events.

Are there good things? Sure, Teddy Atlas and Bob Papa are hilarious together and, pardon the pun, are getting a little punchy in their analysis. The Cuban boxers are terrific and every so often a boxer shows up whose style is pleasing to the eye. Those times are few and far between.

Does anyone out there agree? Comment below and tell me what you think.

Thoughts on the Flyweight Olympic boxing draw
Official Link to the Flyweight draw

Flyweight (48-51kg / 112 lbs.)
Defending world champion Rau’shee Warren didn’t get any favors. The three other 2007 World Championships medalists are all on his side of the bracket. If the Cincinnati native and 2004 Athens Olympian gets through the first two rounds his quarters opponent could be 2007 bronze winner Italian Vincenzo Picardi.

A Warren win could set up a rematch with his World Championship semifinals victim, Azerbaijani Samir Mammadov, or his finals opponent Thai Somjit Jongjohor.

Regardless, the eventual Olympian silver medalist will be earning his first worldwide competitive medal. The favorites among those are Puerto Rican McWilliams Arroyo, Cuban Andry Laffita, and Russian Georgy Balakshin all of whom lucked into first round byes.

(NOTE All Times are Eastern U.S. time)
First Round
Tuesday, August 12
First Session 1:30 a.m. - 3:00 a.m. EST
Second Session 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. EST

Round of 16
Saturday, August 16
1:30 a.m. - 3:30 a.m. EST

Quarterfinals
Wednesday, August 20
7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. EST

Flyweight Semifinals
Friday, August 22
1:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. EST

Flyweight Final
Saturday, August 23
7:00 a.m. EST

In our light heavyweights first day summary we said that Tajikstan’s Djakhon Kurbanov “dominated” defending world champ Abbos Atoev and merely that the referee stopped Croatian Marijo Sivolija-Jelica bout against Samoan Satupaitea Farani Tavui in the third round.

That was before we saw the matches on TV which were shown on tape delay in the United States. We take back everything we said. Print results can be deceiving. To our eyes Djakhon Kurbanov didn’t dominate Abbos Atoev at all. The fight looked very close to us. In fact we might have even thought Atoev landed more clean punches than the boxer who supposedly beat him 11-3. Sometimes amateur boxing ridiculous scoring system can be very frustrating.

In the other fight were amending our judgment to Croatian Marijo Sivolija-Jelica didn’t just defeat Tavui by a bland referee stoppage. In fact Sivolija-Jelica destroyed Tavui with a clean right hook to the temple. The ref stopped the action and the Samoan stumbled around for an excruciatingly long time around the ring before collapsing to the ground getting up and collapsing again. Tavui was carried out of the ring on a stretcher but the announcers insisted that the gurney was used only for precautionary reasons. Sivolija-Jelica won by a devastating knockout and we apologize for not giving him his just due.

After finishing NBC’s first Olympic boxing broadcast my first thoughts are WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!

The 150 minute-long pugilist extravaganza aired last night starting at 2 a.m. on CNBC and Universal HD. Nearly all of the day’s matches were shown!

Who was announcing the events? The great Bob Papa accompanied by a subdued Teddy Atlas who clearly is pacing himself for the marathon of boxing matches in his future.

I am amazed at the sheer volume of boxing shown. I was expecting only to see American fighters or highlighted athletes. I was wrong. Amazing stuff.

Will I even leave the house these next two weeks?

Chances are low.

The whole idea of constant Olympic boxing coverage made my head spin so I made I schedule of when every event happens and its corresponding eastern standard time beginning. This schedule reflects only the events themselves and NOT the television schedule. But if the first night’s coverage is any indication the first sessions of the first rounds should all be broadcast with a very slight tape delay.

Click to read more for the full schedule.

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He’s back and not a moment too soon. The Dallas Morning News reports that late last night U.S.A. Boxing reinstated its team captain and 106-pound representative Luis Yanez. The team leaves for Beijing next Tuesday.

The terms of the reinstatement attest to www.jabandgrapple.com’s opinion that the suspension was never about what was best for Luis Yanez; instead it was an ill-timed power play by an unqualified coach who has lost his team.

In order to return, the Morning News reports, Yanez must publicly apologize USA Team Boxing CEO, his coach Dan Campbell, and his teammates. He must also say that his actions were wrong and agree to pay back training costs for sessions he didn’t attend.

We wonder what exactly did Yanez do wrong?

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