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| VARGAS WINS IN CONVINCING FASHION BUT WARREN IS ELIMINATED |
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ATHENS, GREECE – Two Ohio natives took the ring for the first time on Wednesday at the Peristeri Boxing Hall, but the two athletes, light flyweight Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) and heavyweight (201 lbs/91 kg) Devin Vargas (Toledo, Ohio) left the ring with two completely different outcomes.
The 17-year-old drew a tough test for his first bout in the Olympic Games with 2003 World Championships silver medallist Zou Chiming of China and the more experienced Chiming emerged with a 22-9 victory. However Vargas was extremely impressive in his first bout of the Olympic Games and his speed and new boxing style earned him a third round stoppage of Morocco’s Rachid El Haddak.
Vargas took command of the bout from the beginning, building a six-point lead after two minutes of competition and once he saw that he could dominate the contest, he did. A nine-point advantage after four minutes of boxing led to a third round referee stops contest due to the 20-point differential. The 22-year-old heavyweight out-boxed and out-worked his slower opponent and as the minutes ticked away Vargas grew more comfortable and began to score at will. His efforts earned him a berth in the quarterfinal round where Vargas will face Italian Daniel Betti.
“He loves to bang, he loves to be aggressive and go in and put the chin on the line,” Abdullah said. We’ve been working with on him boxing and he showed today that he can box.”
“My plan going in was just to box, and see what he had to offer,” Vargas said. “I took it to him quick in the first round and once I saw that he was slow, I relaxed a little bit. I was just having fun.”
Vargas stood in the warm-up area and his excitement grew as the minutes ticked away until his first bout at the Olympic Games. “I told Coach Abdullah that it felt like I was about to go on a roller coaster, I felt that kind of excitement,” Vargas said.
Warren’s bout started off slowly for both boxers as the two attempted to find positioning and feel out his opponent before engaging, and the inactivity resulted in a 1-1 tie after the first round. The contest stayed close after two rounds and the punch output increased slightly to move the score to a 5-4 Chiming advantage, but the tide turned in the third and fourth rounds. Warren continued to stalk his moving opponent but had difficulty catching him and landing shots. Warren he came out aggressively in the fourth and final round, throwing quick combinations, but he couldn’t make up his deficit and lost the 22-9 decision.
“I thought we were in the bout through the third round,” Head Coach Basheer Abdullah said. “We lost the bout in the third round. We fell behind five points and that put us in a difficult situation where we had to chase the World Championships silver medallist.”
“I am not used to anybody running like that. I’m used to everybody coming at me, but I trained for that and I didn’t come out with what I wanted to do in the ring,” Warren said.
At only 17, Warren is the youngest male on the U.S. Olympic Team and still looks forward to typical teenage things such as going to the prom and getting his driver’s license. The Harmony High School student believes that his youth actually worked to his advantage despite the outcome of his bout. Although he was clearly disappointed with the loss, his mother, Paulette was there to help raise her son’s spirits.
“She just told me to keep my head up, and not to get down. It was great for me to get this far because I am the only person in my family to do something like this at a young age.
“It was a good experience for me to be young,” Warren said. “I am still going to come here and represent me country and cheer on my teammates.”
Super heavyweight (201+/91+ kg) Jason Estrada (Providence, R.I.) will face Tonga’s Ma’afu Hawke in first round action on Wednesday night.
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