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| DIRRELL DAZZLES IN VICTORY AS SILER SUFFERS SECOND ROUND LOSS |
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ATHENS, GREECE – The U.S. Olympic Boxing team came into Saturday’s second round competition with high hopes for two of their top medal hopes, flyweight (112 lbs/51 kg) Ron Siler (Cincinnati, Ohio) and middleweight (165 lbs/75 kg) Andre Dirrell (Flint, Mich.). Dirrell put on a dazzling performance in a second round stoppage win over Nabil Kassel of Algeria, but Siler suffered a tough defeat to Uzbekistan’s Tulashboy Doniyorov, 45-22.
Dirrell stepped in the ring only three bouts after Siler’s loss, knowing that he had to regain his team’s momentum, and he did it in spectacular fashion. Dirrell took over in the opening seconds of the bout, something many of his teammates had failed to do in their earlier losses. He led his quick hands fly and a first round flurry caused an early standing-eight count for Kassel, but Dirrell didn’t stop there, continuing to peck away at his helpless opponent. His efforts earned Dirrell a 12-3 lead in the first round but the domination increased in the second round as the Flint 20-year-old scored at will, building up a 27-7 lead as the second round ended. His 20-point advantage earned Dirrell an automatic referee stops contest due to the 20-point differential rule, giving Dirrell the win and announcing to the rest of his division that he is in Athens for gold. Olympic-style boxing rules state that a bout will be stopped if one boxer holds a 20-point advantage over his opponent in any of the first three rounds.
“Most of my first rounds had been slow coming in but I felt good back in the locker room and I really focused on what I needed to do,” Dirrell said. “I knew he was slow and I knew I had him where I wanted him after that first left hand landed.”
“I was very glad to see him perform the way he did. It was the type of performance that we needed after dropping as many boxers as we have in the couple days,” Coach Abdullah said. “I think his performance stated to the rest of his opponents that he is here to compete for that gold medal.”
“It definitely gives me confidence to know that I can go in there and use my hand speed as an advantage,” Dirrell said. “I stepped in there with full enthusiasm and I got in there and did my job and I am just taking it one step at a time from here.”
Siler came to Athens with high hopes, but they were quickly dashed in eight minutes of boxing on Saturday at the Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. He stayed close in the opening round but allowed Doniyorov to gain the early lead, something the coaches had hoped to avoid. Siler pulled to within three after the first round but Doniyorov extended his advantage to 17-10 midway through the bout. Siler looked to close the gap, scoring points throughout the last two rounds but he continued to give up points to Doniyorov, allowing him to maintain his lead. Doniyorov went into the final round with a 15-point lead, and Siler couldn’t pull off the magical comeback, losing 45-22.
“I wasn’t on today. I wanted to do it, it was in my mind, but it just didn’t come out in my boxing,” Siler said. “He was the better man tonight. He executed the game plan, he got the lead and he protected it. He’s a true champion and I am a true champion.”
“He wasn’t executing today, and he wasn’t able to do the things that we drew up for him,” Abdullah said. “He stated to me after the bout that he just wasn’t feeling it. We are here at the Olympic Games and you’ve got to make it happen and he just wasn’t able to make it happen today.”
Dirrell will take on Cuba’s Yordanis Despaigne in quarterfinal action on August 25. The two boxers have met twice before and split the two bouts, but Dirrell won the most recent contest at the Athens Test Event in May, defeating Despaigne, 41-28.
Heavyweight (201 lbs/91 kg) Devin Vargas (Toledo, Ohio) will compete in quarterfinal action on Sunday, taking on Belarus’ Viktar Zuyev. Vargas currently stands one win away from the medal rounds and can clinch a medal with a victor over Zuyev.
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