US BOXING HOPE, BRITISH WORLD CHAMPION OUT OF OLYMPICS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 10 Aug 2008
The United States and Britain suffered two major setbacks even before boxing competition at the Beijing Olympic Games began on Saturday.
American bantamweight Russell missed Friday?s weigh-in after suffering from dehydration on Thursday night while British world lightweight champion Frankie Gavin was sent home by team manager Terry Edwards because he was struggling to make the 60 kg limit.
US coach Dan Campbell revealed that Russell had to receive immediate medical attention because he was found to be badly dehydrated in the middle of the night.
Russel had actually been able to reduce to make the bantamweight limit of 54kg but because of the boxer?s condition he was given fluids by the medical staff and was not released until the weigh-in was over.
The US coach disclosed that Russell ?wasn?t sweating the way he should be? which is something they noticed a few days ago.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Russell actually collapsed during a workout on Thursday.
In the case of world champion Gavin, the manager of the British boxing team said he felt that if he pushed it any further ?there would have been a serious health risk. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make in boxing.?
Edwards said that Gavin was ?completely dried out? and it got to a stage where even if he had somehow managed to make the weight in time ?it was going to be detrimental.?
A Commonwealth gold medalist in the lightweight division in March 2006, Gavin was outstanding at the 2007 World Amateur Championships held in Chicago. In his first bout he defeated Omar Ward of Barbados by a Referee Stopped Contest or RSC at 50 seconds of the third round after which he beat Kazakhstan?s Mercy Akshalov 20-9.
Gavin then overcame fellow southpaw and reigning world silver medalist Ramal Amanov of Azerbaijan 21-10 in a fight where Gavin scored a knockdown. After a 16-7 victory over Onur Sipal of Turkey, the British fighter scored a stunning upset by beating Russian superstar Alexei Tishtchenko 19-10. Tishchenko had been unbeaten in four years.
In the finals Gavin won the gold medal defeating Italy?s Domenico Valentino 18-10.
The British champion then stepped up and won an European Union tournament in Poland and was named ?Boxer of the Tournament? as well.
Russell on the other hand was a bronze medalist in the 2005 World Championships in the bantamweight division at the age of 17.
At the US Olympic Trials in 2007 Russell lost a painful 17:18 decision to Roberto Marroquin but beat him twice later and bested national champion Rios to qualify.
Russell joined an elite list of US boxers to lose in the opening round and to rebound and win his weight class. The others were Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones Jr and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
At last year?s World Championships in Chicago, Russell beat Ali Hallab of France to qualify for the Olympics but was soundly beaten by Russia?s eventual winner Sergei Vodopianov 16-6.
The International Amateur Boxing Association or AIBA reported that flyweight Molla Getachew Ambaw of Ethiopia also failed to make the weight.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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