Olympic Update: Ward Fighting For Gold, Saitov upset.
Olympic Update: Ward Fighting For Gold, Saitov upset.
By Scott Shaffer
27/08/2004
By Scott Shaffer
27/08/2004
The
two remaining American Olympian boxers have split their semifinal matches in Athens today. Andre Ward defeated
Utkirbek Haydarov of Uzbekistan by just two official punches, 17-15. Tomorrow, he will have the opportunity to
become the first American gold medalist since David Reid in 1996 when he faces Magomed Aripgadjiev of Belarus.
Aripgradjiev advanced against Egypt's Ahmed Ismail. Meanwhile, Andre Dirrell will take home a bronze medal in the
middleweight division after losing 23-18 to Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakhstan. Golovkin's opponent in the finals will
be Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov of Russia. Gaydarbekov's more famous teammate, Oleg Saitov, was upset in his bid for a
third gold medal by another Kazakh, Bakhtiyar Artayev, 20-18. Artayev will face Lorenzo Aragon of Cuba for the gold.
In the lightweight division, British teenage sensation Amir Khan made it to the gold medal bout by beating Serik
Yeleuov, 40-26. Khan has his work cut out for him tomorrow as he must defeat Mario Kindelan of Cuba in order to
become an Olympic champion.