Tokyo Olympic Boxing: Welterweight and Featherweight preview

Boxing starts on the Olympics on Saturday, most severely with the spherical of 32 for featherweights and welterweights. Who’re the favorites and which outsiders can hope for one thing given their draws?

Welterweight

The favorites:

Pat McCormack (2019 world silver medalist) ought to be conception to be the safest grab for gold. At 24 he’s the youngest of the gold medal favorites with Russia’s Andrey Zamkovoy (2009 world silver medalist, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, 2019 world champion) and Cuba’s Roniel Iglesias (2008 Olympic bronze medalist, 2009 world gold medalist, 2012 Olympic champion, 2017 world silver medalist) both on the impolite facet of 30.

The British fighter has additionally been handed a pretty beneficiant plot. Essentially the most efficient world level medalist in his half of of the bracket is 2019 world bronze medalist Bobo-Usmon Boturov, whom he beat as soon as already.

Zamkovoy ought to additionally be pleased a easy course to medaling with simplest the aging Lorenzo Sotomayor (2016 silver medalist) whose outcomes were declining these days offering a threat earlier than the semis where he’ll presumably combat with Iglesias or Ablaikhan Zhussupov (2017 and 2019 world bronze medalist) for a save in the closing.

The shaded horses

The plot ended up being dazzling unbalanced and some opponents who could possibly want hoped for one thing earlier than the games face an uphill combat and some unlikely names be pleased a accurate shot at sneaking in a bronze medal save.

USA’s Delante Johnson (2016 formative years world champion) is one who will be upset in his plot. He’s a proficient fighter, though he will get backed to the ropes a shrimp bit too effortlessly and can accumulate past his first spherical opponent with out too great anguish but will want two sizeable upsets if he’s to invent the semi-finals.

Japan’s Sewon Okazawa is in a identical save. Okazawa made the quarterfinals of the 2019 world championship and his mobile southpaw model is a shrimp bit sophisticated to address but three wins over world level medalist is a robust attach a seek files from to for him. He’s additionally obtained two most trendy losses to Krishan Yadav (2011 world bronze medalist) so even getting out of the predominant spherical obtained’t be easy.

Yadav has two most trendy wins over Zhussupov so would theoretically simplest want an upset of Iglesias to construct up a bronze and will be pleased some hopes despite being on the troublesome facet of the plot.

However the reveal winner of this plot is Aidan Walsh. Few would be pleased listed the Irishman amongst the medal hopefuls earlier than the games, but and not utilizing a world level medalists standing between him and the semi finals, a bronze medal seems very achievable.

Podium Prediction

Gold: Pat McCormack

Silver: Roniel Iglesias

Bronze: Andrey Zamkovoy/Aidan Walsh

Featherweight

The favorites

There are two sure favorites at featherweight, Cuba’s Lazaro Alvarez, a 3 time world champion and 2 time Olympic bronze medalist who will be desirous to in the end add Olympic gold to his gargantuan résumé. The opposite is Uzbekistan’s 2019 world champion Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov. The Olympic champion is continuously chanced on between these two and Albert Batyrgaziev whose closing loss was to Alvarez in 2019 when he was 21 and looked very appropriate in winning the European qualification match.

The shaded horses

Outside of the three talked about above, 5 opponents in the match be pleased previously obtained world level medals. Ukraine’s Mykola Butsenko (2013 world bronze medalist) has been handed a extraordinarily easy plot and has a excellent course to a bronze medal.

The usa’s Duke Ragan was a silver medalist on the enviornment championships in 2017 but first and predominant elected to flip expert following the sport’s postponement. He hasn’t fought as an amateur since 2019 and went 7-5 that twelve months. His fight with France’s Samuel Kistohurry who came in 2d on the European qualification match is one among the highlights of the predominant spherical but after being away from meaningful competition for 2 years, it’s exhausting to appear at a deep crawl for Ragan.

Peter McGrail (2017/2019 world bronze medalist) vs Chatchai Butdee (2013 world bronze medalist and 2 time olympian) is the different fight in fact price a leer in that first spherical. The Thai is continually in fun fights and was exhausting performed in a 2d spherical loss on the Rio Olympics. I wouldn’t anticipate both to combat by Alvarez and medal but they’re positively opponents to survey.

On the bottom of the bracket, simplest Mongolia’s Erdenebatyn Tsendbaatar (2019 world bronze medalist) seems admire a legitimate threat to Batyrzagiev to me.