CHICAGO -- Rau'shee Warren and Demetrius Andrade made their
way to the semifinals of the World Boxing Championships with
victories Thursday, but four American teammates were eliminated.
American super heavyweight Michael Hunter, needing a win to
qualify for the Olympics, was beaten by Russia's Islam Timurziev
22-15.
Raynell Williams, Luis Yanez and Gary Russell also lost at the
University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion -- even though all three had
already qualified for the Olympics earlier in the tournament.
Hunter will still have two more chances to make Beijing. There
are continental qualifiers in March and April.
The son of a boxing professional, Hunter was twice given
standing eight counts and could not overcome the strength of
Timurziev.
"I just went out there trying to box," Hunter said. "He was
pretty strong. He threw a couple of punches that knocked me off
balance, but nothing that really hurt me. I sensed he was getting
tired in the later rounds. I tried to go get him. I just couldn't
catch him."
Warren was using a towel to dab the blood dripping from his nose
following his 23-13 flyweight victory over Russia's Georgy
Balakshin.
"The only thing that shows in the ring is my nose when it
bleeds and that's because I'm fighting hard," Warren said. "If I
don't get hit, I'm not fighting hard."
Balakshin's loss was the only one for Russia in nine
quarterfinal matches Thursday.
Andrade got a standing eight count against his German
welterweight opponent Jack Culcay-Keth in the third round en route
to a 30-9 victory.
With a height and reach advantage, Andrade outscored Culcay-Keth
12-1 in that third round as a loud and partisan crowd roared its
approval. And he wasn't affected by an eye injury he got during a
victory Wednesday night, even though it was still puffy after his
quarterfinal win.
"I was seeing fine. I just didn't want to miss anything,"
Andrade said. "I wanted to remain with the game plan, no macho
man."
Yanez lost to Harry Tanamor of the Philippines in the light
flyweight division 17-7. Tanamor made it difficult for Yanez to
connect with an ability to block punches against the 19-year-old
from Duncanville, Texas.
"I was just a little bit antsy. I just couldn't see myself
losing like that. I got carried away, and got caught with shots I
shouldn't have got caught with," Yanez said.
"It wasn't much of a shock because I still got Beijing," he
said.
Bantamweight Russell, a bronze medalist at the 2005 world
championships, started slowly and was beaten soundly by Russia's
Sergey Vodopyanov 16-6.
"I'm frustrated. I got a bronze at the last worlds. I feel I
took a step down," said Russell, who hurt his thumb during the
fight.
Russell, like Williams earlier in the day, was surprised by the
scoring.
"I felt like I was connecting with a lot of clean shots that
they weren't giving me points for. It's political. It's cool. I'm
happy that I'm here, I qualified for the Olympics," he added.
Featherweight Williams was beaten convincingly by Russian Albert
Selimov 25-8.
"I made it difficult on myself and made it a hard fight when it
shouldn't have been," said Williams.
Warren's meeting with Balakshin was the third international
fight between the two boxers -- they'd split the first two. They
could meet again in China.
Two times during the match, the fighters came out of a clench
and Balakshin ended up in the air hanging from Warren's shoulder.
The second time Warren simply dumped him on the mat like a sack of
potatoes -- almost wrestling-like.
"You could tell it was physical in there," said Warren, who
was bothered for a second straight bout by a sore right shoulder.
Before Thursday's session began, AIBA president Ching-Kuo Wu
said he was pleased by the progress his organization has made to
clean up the sport.
Noting that 38 countries had fighters in the quarterfinals, Wu
said it reflected sweeping changes implemented since he took over
the post. He unseated longtime head Anwar Chowdhry of Pakistan in
last year's election.
More countries are doing well, Wu said, because there is a
universality in how the matches are being officiated.
"If the sport can't achieve fairness, the sport isn't worth
it," Wu said before Thursday's session at the University of
Illinois-Chicago Pavilion.
"It shows the standard of boxing and the quality of the
referees and judges. ... Most important is the judging of the
competition. Because it's fair, nobody can dominate. Nobody can
manipulate."