Bakhodir Jalolov starts off Olympic repeat bid with points win, Team USA goes 0-2

Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images

Jul

“The Big Uzbek” took a big step towards repeating as Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist.

Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov used his range and southpaw counterpunching to defeat Norway’s Oman Shikha by unanimous decision on Monday, July 29 at Arena Paris Nord in Villepinte, France.

Jalolov, who is also a professional boxer with a 14-0 (14 KOs), barely had to get out of first gear in the round of 16 bout, and now looks to the quarterfinals on Friday, where he’ll meet Australia’s Teremoana Teremoana. The two met once before, with Jalolov stopping Teremoana in two rounds in the 2023 World Championships preliminaries. The 6’6”, 270-pound Teremoana finished the job with a right hand high on the ear that sent the Ukrainian to the canvas.

After starting out the tournament 2-0, Team USA fell 0-2 on Monday, with super heavyweight Joshua Edwards losing a disputed 3-1 decision to Italy’s Diego Lenzi in the round of 16 and women’s 60kg boxer Jajaira Gonzalez losing a 5-0 decision to Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira in the round of 16.

Edwards, 24, of Houston, Tex. looked sharp early using his quicker footwork to get in and out, and switching between stances each exchange to keep his opponent off balance. Edwards continued to box and flurry in the second round, though Lenzi never stopped coming. Edwards lost a point in the second round for putting his head down, though it was clear that Edwards never bent below Lenzi’s waist. Edwards tried to make up for it with a big flurry to end the round, but he was visibly upset on his way back to the corner.

Edwards rocked Lenzi with a right hand midway through the third, as he came out more aggressively to try and regain the advantage. Lenzi appeared to be out of gas through most of the third round as he gasped for air and offered little back when Edwards flurried. Still, Lenzi managed to land his best punches of the fight, a right and a left in an exchange.

One judge had it even at 28-28 and another had Edwards winning 29-27, while three had Lenzi winning 30-26 on one card and 29-27 on the other two. Lenzi will face Germany’s Nelvie Tiafack, the Cameroon born German who defeated Azerbaijan’s Mahammad Abdullayev by unanimous decision, on Friday, August 2 in the super heavyweight quarterfinals.

Ferreira, the only current pro world champion in the Olympics this year, scored a repeat of her unanimous decision win over Gonzalez in the semis of last year’s Pan Am Games to advance to the quarterfinals. Gonzalez, 27, of Glendora, Calif. didn’t lay down easily, as she outhustled the aggressive Ferreira at times in close. Ferreira, who won the vacant IBF lightweight title in April with a technical decision over Yanina del Carmen Lescano, picked up the pace in the second round, walking Gonzalez into uppercut counters and mixing in body punches in a dominant round. Sensing the need for something dramatic, Gonzalez went for broke in round three but Ferreira’s superior accuracy helped shade the fight.

Ferreira, 31, of Salvador, Brazil will face Chelsey Heijnen of the Netherlands on Wednesday, July 31 in the quarterfinals.

Full Results

Women’s 60kg round of 16

Yang Wenlu (CHN) 5-0 Thi Linh Ha (VIE)

Natalia Shadrina (SRB) 5-0 Dounia Khelif (ALG)

Maria Jose Palacios Espinoza (ECU) 5-0 Tyla McDonald (AUS)

Shin Yi Wu (TPE) W-DQ Cynthia Temitayo Ogunsemilore (NGR) (doping)

Kellie Harrington (IRL) 5-0 Alessia Mesiano (ITA)

Angie Paola Valdes Pana (COL) 3-2 Donjeta Sadiku (KOS)

Chelsey Heijnen (NED) 4-1 Ungyong Won (PRK)

Beatriz Ferreira (BRA) 5-0 Jajaira Gonzalez (USA)

Men’s 63.5kg round of 16