Pro Boxers Are Getting Knocked Out Early and Often at Tokyo Olympics – NBC New York

Skilled boxers are getting knocked out of the Olympics early and infrequently for the second straight Video games.

IBF tremendous featherweight champion Maïva Hamadouche of France misplaced her opening bout of the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday night time, dropping a break up resolution to 40-year-old former silver medalist Mira Potkonen of Finland.

Just a few hours earlier, Poland’s Karolina Koszewska — a former mild middleweight worldwide champion — was emphatically despatched house from the ladies’s welterweight event by Turkey’s Busenaz Sürmeneli.

Hamadouche and Koszewska are two of the three most skilled skilled boxers who certified amongst a gaggle of greater than 40 for Tokyo. Their expertise shouldn’t be proving to be a bonus on the earth of Olympic boxing.

Hamadouche was livid after three of the 5 judges scored her bout for Potkonen 29-27, with a fourth judging it even and just one giving it to the present 130-pound skilled champion.

The purple-haired Hamadouche walked across the ring together with her arms prolonged in disbelief after popping out on the improper finish of a high-energy struggle in opposition to Potkonen, a mom of two who received bronze in Rio.

“It’s very disappointing,” Hamadouche mentioned by a translator. “I respect Olympic values, however for me, I didn’t lose this struggle. It’s disrespectful to my work, and significantly, I didn’t lose the third spherical.”

Three of the 5 judges scored the third spherical for Potkonen, who appeared to get outworked by Hamadouche down the stretch.

Probably the most skilled male skilled within the Olympic subject additionally misplaced a day earlier. Wilfred Ntsengue, who fights out of Montreal for Cameroon, didn’t acquire a lot profit from his 9 bouts of professional expertise in a slim split-decision loss to Tshama Mwenekabwe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Worldwide Boxing Affiliation (AIBA) altered a long time of novice custom in 2016 when it allowed all skilled boxers to aim to qualify for Rio de Janeiro. Solely three professionals certified within the compressed time-frame, and the three males mixed to win simply two fights and no medals.

Those results calmed the concerns of some boxing experts who thought professionals would endlessly alter the Olympics. Although dozens of extra professionals certified for Tokyo — and others may need tried with out the coronavirus pandemic altering the qualifying course of — these considerations nonetheless seem like unfounded early within the second Olympics with professionals within the subject.

Simply as they did in Rio, the professionals in Tokyo are struggling to adapt their types to the factors of the novice sport’s judges — though to be truthful, veteran amateurs are sometimes baffled by the variations amongst judges from completely different continents and backgrounds in sure fights.

Probably the most skilled professional left within the subject is Serbian flyweight Nina Radovanovic, who dumped Canada’s Mandy Bujold out of the event of their opening bout. Radovanovic, who’s 14-4 as a professional and as soon as held the IBF flyweight title, fights once more Thursday.

Probably the most skilled male skilled left in Tokyo is Uzbek tremendous heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov, who’s 8-0 as a professional. He begins his second Olympics on Thursday.

A number of professionals have already received fights, however most of these winners have solely a handful of bouts {of professional} expertise.

The trail to success seems to be retaining one foot in every boxing world — equivalent to Keyshawn Davis, who had three skilled bouts earlier this 12 months earlier than making his Olympic debut Sunday with a one-sided win over the Netherlands’ Enrico Lacruz.

“In my earlier competitions within the amateurs, every day I obtained higher and higher,” Davis mentioned. “I’m joyful that I’m right here. I’ve by no means skilled something like this earlier than, and now that I’ve skilled it, I’m glad I obtained the chance to return again and symbolize Crew USA.”

Davis fights Rio silver medalist Sofiane Oumiha on Saturday.