Russell, Jacobs make it to the finals the hard way
Challenger’s Bracket Final Round: Friday night's winners get to come back and face the Champion’s Bracket winners tomorrow. If the Champion’s bracket winner wins on Saturday, the tournament is over. If the Challenger’s bracket winner wins on Saturday, they will return on Sunday to fight each other again to determine the trials winner. Keep in mind, the winners are still not guaranteed to box in Beijing as there is an international qualifying process to go through.Â
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Light Flyweight: Malcolm Franklin over Diego Hurtado, 18-11… Malcolm Franklin circled for most of the bout looking for openings, sticking and moving, while Diego Hurtado awaited the attack. The pace of the fight steadily increased to a final crescendo as Hurtado comes forward attacking urgently as the bout closes. Franklin moves into Saturday’s final match to face Luis Yanez.
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Flyweight: Qa’id Muhammad over Aaron Alafa, 20-14 … Aaron Alfala has a big height and reach advantage over the compact Qa'id Muhammad who is the aggressor. Alafa picks his shots with accuracy and throws combinations and lead right hooks as Qa’id comes in to engage him. Muhammad comes on strong in the third round by landing and quickly getting out, and stings Alafa with a straight right to his nose. Qa’id controls round four to close out the victory. Muhammad earns a rematch with Rau’shee Warren tomorrow.
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Bantamweight: Gary Russell, Jr. over Ronny Rios, 22-19… Pre-tournament favorite Gary Russell opens the bout showing off his speed and seems way too fast for Ronny Rios. Ruseell used his jab to set up straight lefts and hooks. He looks driven, realizing he has no margin for error as he attempts to make his way through the challenger’s bracket to make the squad. The crowd chants for Rios and he comes on strong to finish the round placing a nice body shot on Russell. He tries to carry that momentum over opening the second round aggressively. Russell is now waiting more, slipping punches and standing just outside of punching distance. Rios lands a solid right and the two exchange solid combinations. The crowd is alive as Rios lands left and right hooks, and Russell lands counters. Rios lead is down to one point entering the final round. Russell attempts to score with single shots and then elude. Rios gets inside and lands a couple of blows. A great fight with an exciting finish. Russell now gets his rematch with Roberto Marroquin
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Featherweight: Hylon Williams, Jr. over Shemuel Pagan, 49-20… Hylon Williams put on a show for his hometown crowd displaying his blazing speed. With two previous meetings and Shemuel Pagan having spent the past three weeks in Houston training at Ced’s gym, they were very familiar with one another. Posturing opened the bout with Pagan awaiting Williams’s movements, and Hylon delivering quick blows and getting out just as quick as both tried to get into their rhythm. They’d had enough of the feeling out process as they open the second round going toe-to-toe. Both land good shots, but Hylon’s were quicker and he made Pagan miss more. Pagan lands a couple of nice overhand lefts, and Williams answers with uppercuts and short hooks. Ced repeatedly gets inside and lands with lightening quickness. Pagan lands a few straight shots from the upright position and controls the early part of round three, as Hylon uncharacteristically stands stationary. They slug it out to finish the round. Hylon shines in the fourth round as the crowd roars for their man.  He delivers an exciting round with both fighters throwing tons of punches. Pagan has a good showing but cannot cope with Williamses speed. Hylon will now get a chance to reverse his single point loss against Raynell Williams in Saturday’s final.
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Lightweight: Miguel Gonzalez over Jerry Belmontes, 21-12… Jerry Belmontes controlled the early part of the bout but Gonzalez lands nice counterpunches to turn the momentum in his favor. In the third round, Miguel Gonzalez lands a well timed punch sending Belmontes sprawling backwards, and then finishes the bout picking his shots at distance. Next he faces Sadam Ali.
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Light Welterweight: Danny Garcia over Dan O’Connor, 25-19… Danny Garcia goes into tomorrow’s final versus Javier Molina.
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Welterweight: Keith Thurman over Charles Hatley, 23-14…  At the U.S. Championships, many coaches and fighters witnessed one of the great amateur bouts in USA Boxing history when these two met last, and tonight’s bout was highly anticipated by all. A low scoring opening round saw them showing each other healthy respect and Hatley stayed outside of reach, while Thurman pursued trying to cut off the ring. The action heated up in round two as Thurman wobbles Hatley scoring an eight count. He scores another early in the third round as his punches are hurting his foe.  Hatley comes back and scores his own eight count as both are landing bunches of punches. Down on the scorecards, Hatley is pursuing in the fourth round while Thurman avoids and retreats protecting his lead and closing out the bout.  Thurman now gets another shot at Demetrius Andrade.
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Middleweight: Daniel Jacobs over Shawn Porter, 31-11… Shawn Porter earned this rematch of an earlier round loss to Danny Jacobs. Danny came out using an effective jab to control the action, circling and avoiding Porter’s power punches. Jacobs began to stick and move in the 2nd round to build a wide lead, picking apart his opponent. Porter got a couple of big shots thru Jacob’s guard, but way too few of them to make the bout close. With a large lead, Jacobs avoided Porter’s rush in the fourth round to seal the victory. Jacobs next gets to rematch Shawn Estrada.
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Light Heavyweight: Yathomas Riley over Angel Concepcion, 32-24… Yathomas Riley comes out initiating the action while Angel Concepcion looks for openings. Riley’s attacking scores while Concepcion is wating too much. The action intensifies in the third with both tall fighters trying to land over the top of one another’s punches. Riley scores an eight count and then starts dropping bombs on Concepcion who covers up and looks tired and beaten. But he finds it within himself to come back and land a few big shots of his own late to close the bout. Riley now goes to Saturday’s final to face Christopher Downs.
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Heavyweight: Quantis Graves over Adam Willett, 16-4… Adam Willett had a big size advantage but Quantis Graves dominated using his speed and much faster hands. Willett couldn’t get anything going in his favor while Graves patiently picked him apart. Graves will take on Deontay Wilder tomorrow.
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Super Heavyweight: Kimdo Bethel over Mike Wilson, 18-17… Mike Wilson’s reign at 201+ comes to an end as Kimdo Bethel scores in the closing seconds to eke out the victory. Wilson controlled the pace of the bout but landed little other than his lead jabs and left hooks, while Bethel is able to score with inside shots. He now will face Michael Hunter in tomorrow’s final.
