Olympic Boxing: Terrell Gausha Scores Late KO, Vijender Singh Advances

by Gautham Nagesh

U.S. middleweight Terrell Gausha delivered a scintillating last-second stoppage over Andranik Hakobyan of Armenia to advance to the second round of the London Olympic boxing tournament.

Down a point heading into the final round, Gausha turned up the pressure and began landing his right hand. He began finding his range and punching inside the Armenian’s wide shots, beating his larger opponent to the punch. Hakobyan responded by tying up Gausha and smothering his punches, but Gausha shook free and landed an overhand right directly on Hakobyan’s chin.

The Armenian went down hard, clearly hurt. He rose only to eat a vicious left hook that put him down again. Hakobyan somehow got up and ate a couple more shots that forced the referee to stop the fight at the bell. The official result was a Referee Stopped Contest at 3:00 of Round 3, the first stoppage of the 2012 Olympics. By dominating the third, Gausha dramatically reversed his slow start, which saw him controlled by the much larger Hakobyan.[[MORE]]

Afterward, Gausha credited his corner for telling him to double up the jab and close the gap before delivering his right hand. The Cleveland native looked confident after being down early, showing impressive resolve. He seemed surprised by the stoppage, since most observers thought the fight would go to the scorecards after the final bell.

“I seen that I had hurt him and he was pretty dazed,” Gausha said.

It’s just one fight, but Gausha’s performance should ensure a few more people tune in to watch his next bout. He overcame early difficulties to figure out his opponent, hurt him badly and finish the job with considerable punching power. That’s the kind of star quality we need more of on the U.S. Boxing team. If he can score a couple more knockouts, the middleweight may find himself one of the stars of the first week.

Vijender Singh Advances: Indian middleweight and 2008 bronze medalist Vijender Singh won a close fight over Kazakhstan’s Danabek Suzhanov by a score of 14-10.

Singh was pushed hard by the game Suzhanov, but he began standing his ground and landing the right hand to the head and body effectively in the third round. Singh also used good lateral movement and boxed from the outside, the second Indian fighter in this games to employ such a style. It looks like there may be an Indian style of boxing that will serve as the template for future comparison.

Singh’s greatest asset is his resilience and courage, which allowed him to stand up to some clean shots from the Kazakh. But they might not be enough against Gausha, who he will face in the next round. Gausha showed much greater athletic talent, and the ability to handle a taller fighter. His considerable power may cause the Indian problems if he tries to come inside.

Singh will doubtless try to use his size advantage to stay outside against the American, but we’re predicting it won’t be enough. Either way, it should be a heck of a fight.