13.11.05 – Team USA enjoyed a successful opening day at the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Mianyang City, China, winning two of their three opening day bouts. Featherweight Mark Davis (Cleveland, Ohio) and welterweight (152 lbs) Boyd Melson (Fort Carson, Colo.) both grabbed their first wins of the tournament.. Lightweight Michael Evans (Dayton, Ohio) dropped his opening bout of the tournament, losing a 25-7 decision to China’s own Hu Qing.
Davis was the first to take the ring and he set the tone for the rest of his U.S. teammates early in his preliminary contest with Chadi Abelkader of Algeria. Davis jumped out to a quick start, building up a 5-0 lead over Abdelkader in the first minute of the contest. Abelkader mounted a strong comeback through the second half of the round to pull the bout to an 11-8 margin. Davis came on strong in round two as well, utilizing his quick hands and throwing crisp combinations to build a 21-13 lead at the midway point of the contest. His success continued into the third stanza as Davis built on his lead early in the round and used strong movement to hold on to his advantage.
Davis took a 32-20 lead into the final round, but Abelkader refused to go quietly as he mounted an intense comeback in the final two minutes of action. Despite his opponent’s efforts and a fourth round slugfest, Davis grabbed the 38-32 final victory to move to the next round of competition.
“It was a good bout, I got tired toward the end. I didn’t know the score so I felt like I had to make it a bang out fight at the end,” Davis said. “It felt good to get the first one of out the way. This was my first bout since the World Cup in July so I had to work a little of the ring rust off. I saw that the scoring was good in the earlier bouts and that gave me confidence going into my bout.”
Welterweight Boyd Melson (Fort Carson, Colo.) recorded the second victory of the day for his team, defeating Hirano Yoshiyuki of Japan by a convincing 24-12 margin. Melson enjoyed not only the support of his very vocal teammates cheering him on, but also his father, First Sergeant Retired Nolan Melson, Jr. in the audience. “My teammates really pumped me up. In basketball, they have the sixth man and I had the 2nd-11th men,” Melson said. “Hearing them in the stands really motivated and inspired me, I fed off of their energy.”
Melson opened with a conservative yet successful first round, utilizing strong movement and feeding off the strength of his teammates’ support to grab a two-point lead after the first round. The West Point graduate emerged much more aggressively in the second round and held the same two-point lead midway through the bout. “The only thing I knew about my opponent going in was that he was from Japan. I wanted to be a little more aggressive,” he said. “I was more aggressive in the second round when I realized that I wasn’t getting tired. I felt the conditioning from training camp really helped me.”
The second half of the bout belonged to Melson as he continued his outstanding movement and accurate punching to move out to an 18-10 lead at the end of the third round. With the support of his teammates ringing in his ears, Melson boxed beautifully in the final round. Landing strong shots and spinning off before his opponent could return fire, Melson moved out to a 24-12 final victory. “I really felt like we were a team tonight. I just wanted to win, I knew that I had a lot to prove,” Melson said. “I used a lot of strategy that we worked on in camp in my bout tonight, particularly when I was battling inside and it worked.”
Lightweight Michael Evans (Dayton, Ohio) did not enjoy the same success in his preliminary round bout with hometown boxer Hu Qing of China. The bout was sloppy and foul filled from the opening bell and after two full minutes of boxing, Qing held a 1-0 lead. The sloppiness continued in the second round as Qing took over and Evans had his first of two points deducted from the referee to give Qing a 10-2 lead. Evans had a second point taken in the third round and continued to fall further behind Qing before losing a 25-7 final decision.
“I could have fought better, I didn’t fight my fight and I had to face the hometown boxer. I should have put out more and boxed better,” Evans said. “Fighting the hometown boxer didn’t really affect me, it’s kind of a bad break but I had to deal with it.”
Preliminary competition will continue on Monday afternoon at the Mianyang Sports Gymnasium.
Schedule
November 13-17: Preliminary Rounds
November 18: Quarterfinals
November 19: Semifinals
November 20: Finals
Results:
112 lbs/51 kg: Bouziane Malik, ALG, dec. Kim Chol San, PRK, 35-19
112 lbs/51 kg: Juan Carlos Payano, DOM, dec. Yang Bo, CHN, 36-22
112 lbs/51 kg: Mammadov Samir, AZE, dec. Sapabeck Uulu Tilick, KGZ, 32-18
112 lbs/51 kg: Vincenzo Picardi, ITA, stopped Iganshi Toshiyuki, JPN, RSCO-3
112 lbs/51 kg: Violito Payla, PHI, dec. R. Dydi, SVK, 27-26
112 lbs/51 kg: Andry Lafita Hernandez, CUB, dec. Sgt. Somjit Joongjohor, THA, 16-14
112 lbs/51 kg: Jerome Thomas, FRA won on walkover over Saidi Oladele, NGR, W/O
119 lbs/54 kg: Sultonov Bahodirjon, UZB, dec. Rakhimzhanov Mirzhan, KAS, 26-18
119 lbs/54 kg: Bedak Zsolt, HUN, dec. Alex Oliveira Santos, BRA, 36-20
119 lbs/54 kg: Aklud Kumar, IND, dec. Serdar Avci, TUR, 28-15
119 lbs/54 kg: Kim Won Guk, PRK, dec. Ismilov Elshan, AZE, 41-25
125 lbs/57 kg: Kim Song Guk, PRK, won on walkover over Olimaide Adeoye, NGR, W/O
125 lbs/57 kg: D. Edwards, WAL, dec. Kamal Sameera, SRI, 29-25
125 lbs/57 kg: Sergey Kunitsyn, BLR, dec. Daniel Santos da Silva, BRA, 39-21
125 lbs/57 kg: Alexey Valerievich Shaydulin, BUL, stopped Shenawi Mamduh, ISR, RSCO-3
125 lbs/57 kg: Pkhakadze, GEO, dec. Sutton Jonathan Steven, MRI, 35-14
125 lbs/57 kg: Varga Miklos, HUN, stopped B. Sodgerel, MGL, RSCO-3
125 lbs/57 kg: Li Yang, CHN, stopped Fong Vou Wai, HKG, RSCO-3
125 lbs/57 kg: Lisandro Bolivar, VEN, dec. Sarrom Ardee, THA, 37-19
125 lbs/57 kg: Nejmaoui Saifeddine, TUN, dec. Marius Narkevicius, LTU, 35-21
125 lbs/57 kg: Bulekenov Dmytro, UKR, dec. Kim Won II, KOR, 47-24
125 lbs/57 kg: Mark Davis, Cleveland, Ohio/USA dec. Chadi Abdelkader, ALG, 38-32
132 lbs/60 kg: Ibrahim Kamal, CAN, dec. Javakhyan Hrachik, ARM, 29-18
132 lbs/60 kg: Asghar Ali Shah, PAK, dec. Borankulov Dulat, KAZ, 30-27
132 lbs/60 kg: Yordanis Ugas Hernandez, CUB, dec. Fayzuloev Marufjon, TJK, 28-14
132 lbs/60 kg: Baik Jong Sub, KOR, dec. Dimitar Shtilianov Panayotov, BUL, 14-11
132 lbs/60 kg: Selcuk Aydin, TUR, dec. Saber Gasmi, TUN, 28-19
132 lbs/60 kg: Hu Qing, CHN, dec. Michael Evans, Dayton, Ohio/USA, 25-7
132 lbs/60 kg: Malicevic Nersad, SCG, dec. Diego Mejias, ESP, 29-21
141 lbs/64 kg: Todd Kidd, AUS, dec. Carmine Cirillo, ITA, 24-21
141 lbs/64 kg: Andreev Anatolii, MDA, dec. Bella Adil, MAR, 28-25
141 lbs/64 kg: Lhcene Houari, ALG, dec. Bashamal, AFG, 29-20
141 lbs/64 kg: Andrei Chyruk, BLR, dec. Apichet Saensit, THA, 31-15
141 lbs/64 kg: Inocent Fiss Caraballosa, CUB, stopped Ghuamichava, GEO, RSCO-3
141 lbs/64 kg: Shin Myong Hoon, KOR, dec. Onder Stipal, TUR, 21-10
141 lbs/64 kg: Carrasco Guemersindo, ARG, dec. B. Bayanmunkh, MGL, 35-15
141 lbs/64 kg: Jose Gutierrez, ESP, dec. Shonny Sanchez, VEN, 39-36
141 lbs/64 kg: Martin Dressen, GER, dec. Hovhanniyan Artyom, ARM, 36-15
141 lbs/64 kg: Gheorge Ionut, ROM, stopped Fukaishi Yukio, JPN, RSCO
141 lbs/64 kg: Chen Tong Zho, CHN, dec. Kate Gyula, HUN, 23-16
141 lbs/64 kg: Shin Myong Hong, KOR, dec. Onder Stpal, TUR, 21-10
141 lbs/64 kg: Boris Georgiev, BLR, dec. Oleg Komissarov, RUS
152 lbs/69 kg: Boyd Melson, Fort Carson, Colo./USA dec. Hirano Yoshiyuki, JPN, 24-12
152 lbs/69 kg: Jean Jovette Nicole Jude, SEY, stopped Goloyandu Sergey, ISR, RSC
152 lbs/69 kg: Som Bahadur Pun, IND, dec. Darius Jasevicius, LTU, 31-17
152 lbs/69 kg: Erislandi Lara Santoya, CUB, dec. Sergiy Dereyyanchenko, UKR, 30-9
152 lbs/69 kg: Andrey Balanov, RUS, stopped Mursit Nuradinakan, QAT, RSC
152 lbs/69 kg: Xavier Noel, FRA, dec. Bashirov, TKM, 19-10
152 lbs/69 kg: Pedro A. Santo de Lima, BRA, dec. Stefan Dragomir, ROM, 45-21
152 lbs/69 kg: Ait Hammi Miloud, MAR, dec. Oussaci Choyab, ALG, 23-20
152 lbs/69 kg: Spas Nikolaev Genov, BUL, dec. Giyasov Mirdzhamol, TJK, 29-16
152 lbs/69 kg: Bakhtiyar Artayev, KAZ, dec. Seancarlso Prada, VEN, 33-11
152 lbs/69 kg: Bulent Uldsoy, TUR, dec. Ruslan Khairov, AZE, 18-14
152 lbs/69 kg: Vitalii Grusac, MDA, dec. Stepan Horvath, CZE, 29-7
152 lbs/69 kg: Juania, GEO, dec. Sherzod Husanov, UZB, 28-18
152 lbs/69 kg: Szili Istvan, HUN, dec. Diego Chavez, ARG, 40-16
152 lbs/69 kg: Sherzod Abdurahmonov, UZB, stopped Mario Duro, ESP, RSCO
165 lbs/75 kg: Qi Jing, CHN, dec. Savas Kaya, TUR, 15-14
165 lbs/75 kg: Artur Zwarycz, PO, dec. Siarhei Rabchanka, BLR, 26-12
165 lbs/75 kg: Nagy Andras, HUN, dec. Norberto Dionisio Rocha Castro, ANG, 30-15
165 lbs/75 kg: Emilio Correa Bayeux, CUB, dec. Adonis Stevenson, CAN, 37-20
165 lbs/75 kg: Kautaradze, GEO, stopped Elver Santos Dos Passos, BRA,RSCO
165 lbs/75 kg: Nikolajs Grisunins, LAT, stopped Murata Ryota, JPN, RSCO
165 lbs/75 kg: Hakobyan Andranik, ARM, stopped Matkovic Matej, CRO, RSCO
178 lbs/81 kg: Byskulov Kymbatbek, KGZ, stopped Kenneth Egan, IRL, RSCO-3
178 lbs/81 kg: Anders Hugger Nielsen, DEN, dec. Babacar Kamara, SWE, 24-11
178 lbs/81 kg: L. Yildiria Tarhan, TUR, dec. Adura Olalehin, NGR, 16-15
178 lbs/81 kg: Saharoui Mourad, TUN, stopped Yusiel Napoles Mareillan, CUB, RSCH