Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2007-11-02

Pic: Sergey Vodopyanov (RUS) after defeating Gary Russell (USA)

A strong Russian team advanced eight of its 11 members into the semifinals of the AIBA World Boxing Championships Chicago 2007 after victories in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

China also had a strong showing, with five boxers winning Thursday to make Friday’s semifinals at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s UIC Pavilion. Four Italians won spots in the semis.

Kazakhstan and Thailand also fared well, each with three moving on to the semifinals. The U.S. team, with four of its six quarterfinalists losing, placed two fighters in the semifinals.

At the start of Thursday’s 44 quarterfinal bouts – four in each of the 11 weight divisions – amateur boxers from 38 countries remained in the competition, affirming the event’s international flavor.

The four winners in each weight group advanced to Friday’s semifinals. The 11-day tournament at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s UIC Pavilion concludes with finals on Saturday.

Bakhtyar Artayev of Kazakhstan, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist as a welterweight, became a middleweight semi-finalist at the Chicago tournament by outpointing Said Rachidi of Morocco, 19-11, Thursday.

Artayev and his team arrived at the site a week before competition began, “so we have trained here for a long time,” he said. “As a result, I felt confident in the ring. But I only felt about 60 or 70 percent, because I had to save energy for tough later bouts.”

Figured to be the toughest is Russian Matvey Korobov, who won the middleweight World Championship two years ago. Korobov advanced to the semifinals with a dominating Thursday victory over Jianzheng Wang of China, 22-3. If Artayev and Korobov both win Friday, they would clash in the finals.

“There are pluses and minuses in having moved up to middleweight,” Artayev said. “A plus is that it is easier for me to maintain my weight. A minus is that I am facing bigger opponents.”

Chinese light flyweight Zou Shiming, the 2005 World Champion and a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, defeated Patrick Barnes of Ireland to reach the semifinals in Chicago. Also advancing with a victory Thursday was Russian lightweight Alexey Tishchenko, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

In other Thursday bouts, U.S. flyweight Raushee Warren and welterweight Demetrius Andrade advanced to the semifinals, while teammates Luis Yanez at light flyweight, Gary Russell Jr. at bantamweight, Raynell Williams at featherweight, and Michael Hunter at super heavyweight, were eliminated, the latter three losing to Russians.

Warren was the only boxer to beat a Russian Thursday.

“He was jumping in, so my hooks were working without me having to jab,” he said after outpointing Georgy Balakshin, 23-13, in a brawl in which Balakshin head butted the American at one point, and Warren later lifted and dropped the Russian. Neither drew a penalty from the referee.

Andrade overwhelmed Jack Culcay-Keth of Germany, 30-9, after piling up a 12-1 advantage in the third of four rounds. “Keeping my distance and pumping my jab worked best in that flurry,” he assessed.

Williams sought to counterpunch as his Russian opponent, Albert Selimov attacked, but the judges saw Selimov easily outlanding Williams by a 25-8 count.

Russian leader Tishchenko, whose one-sided 24-4 victory over Pichai Sayota of Thailand immediately followed Russell’s defeat, was diplomatic in discussing his triumph. “My fight was difficult,” Tishchenko said. “To American friends, I’m sorry the American fighter didn’t win. But I’m here.”

(Credit: AIBA. Click here for further information.)