USA

Jahmal Harvey, USA defeats Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov, UZB – Harvey defeated the number one seed at the Olympics Mirzakhalilov, and in doing so announced himself as one of Capital G Guys of the Team USA Boxing team moving forward. The cards were close, but the fight wasn’t. Mirzakhalilov’s reckless aggression was largely ineffective, as he would swing and miss, while Harvey landed clean shots time-and-time again. Harvey will next face Luiz Gabriel Oliveira of Brazil, a fast-combination puncher.

Omari Jones, USA defeats Tyler Jolly, SCO – Omari Jones’ timing is special. Jones started slow, but once he found Jolly’s rhythm and timing, he landed with clean power shots, and if this were an eight-round fight, these shots would’ve have added up. Jones is battle-tested, and very hard to hit. In short, Jones is really good, especially for his first time fighting internationally. Jones will next fight Norway’s Martin Skogheim.

featherweight

Samuel Kistohurry, FRA – Reminds me of a featherweight Sakio Bika, tough, physical, and mauling. Gave the Olympic silver medalist Duke Ragan a hard fight in the first round of the Olympics, and though based on his style every fight will be close, none will be easy for his opponents. Kistohurry will next face Fawaz Aborode in the third round.

Osvel Caballero, CUB – In what was a very entertaining fight, Caballero battled Sajjad Mohammadpour, who came to win, and despite getting dropped gave Caballero a hard fight. Caballero doesn’t look to be your traditional dominant Cuban boxer and I am not sure if he will be the dominant as say a man he always struggled against, fellow Cuban, Lazaro Alvarez

Adam Hession, IRE – I am all-in, a fun Irish fighter with skills to boot. In terms of fighters to get excited for in the pros, it will be Harvey, Vega and Hession in my opinion, for different reasons. Even though Hession lost to Eduard Savvin, I felt he should’ve have gotten the nod, and is someone to be aware of.

Miguel Vega, MEX – A southpaw Mexican volume puncher in a weight class known for having Mexican legends in the sport of boxing, Vega is someone who you can get excited watching as he has pedigree but is also very entertaining. Vega will next face Nathan Lunata Nkosi, who he will be a heavy favorite against.

Javier Ibáñez, BUL – Scoring a TKO in the featherweight division is impressive, and noteworthy and that is what Ibanez did, fighting similar to Arthur Abraham with faster hands. Ibanez is a solid fighter, very strong who can have success at the next level, but I think in terms of amateur boxing he will always have a certain ceiling. A fight between Ibanez and Kistohurry would be great. Ibanez will next face Yilmar González of COL.

Rujakran Juntrong, TBF – A very solid puncher, who adopted the “hop-in, hop-out”-style of Manny Pacquiao uses aggression as his major weapon and has tricks to come forward despite not really having that active of a jab. His next bout will be against Akylbek Esenbek Uulu in a fight that should be an all-action affair, but will also probably take a lot of both fighters in this tournament.

Reito Tsutsumi, JPN – The boxing Tsustsumi brothers are having quite the tournament, as now Reito Tsutsumi defeated Serik Temirzhanov, as both brothers spar Naoya Inoue – and that world level experience seems to be paying off. Tustsumi will next face Rohit Mor of India, and I see as a lock for the quarterfinals.

Welterweight

Lasha Guruli, GEO – An aggressive pressure fighter with good volume will make any have to earn a victory against him. Guruli lets any-and-all know that boxing is physical sport when getting in the ring with him. His next bout against Moslem Maghsoudi of Iran will be interesting, but I would be curious to see how him and Kevin Brown of Cuba match-up in the future.

Kevin Brown, CUB – Very amateur in style, and had an overmatched up opponent. With the Cuban boxing system you seemingly will always assume the Cubans will be in the top tier of the division. I don’t see it yet with Brown, but that has been the case with many Cubans who have won gold medals at the Olympics. He fights Akash Sangwan of India next.

Sewon Okazawa, JPN – The Japanese boxing team is excelling at this event, and Okazawa picked up a win against a dangerous opponent in Galagot. Okazawa could emerge as a true contender if he can beat Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev in the next round.

Wanderson De Oliveira, BRA – The Brazilian has always been a stand-out to me. Good speed, distance control, Oliveira is quite simply good. He gave his opponent a standing-eight. I am all in on Oliveira, if someone beats him they’re elite. His next fight is against Viktor Petrov of Ukraine

Super Heavyweight

Delicious Orie, ENG – The U.K. is producing a ton of world level heavyweights through the amateur system and Orie seems to be the very next one. Orie got a stoppage over Mexico’s Luis Gomez in what looked like an amateur version of Anthony Joshua versus Andy Ruiz Jr., only with the Brit getting the stoppage win. It is hard to not look at Orie and see a lot of the traits of Anthony Joshua. In the next round, Orie will fight Lazizbek Mullojonov of Uzbekistan.

Nelvie Tiafack, GER – The only fighter I see on a similar level to Orie in this division is Tiafack, who is more of a pressure fighter in the mold of a Dillian Whyte. It will be interesting to see how his style plays out as he stopped his first opponent of the tournament, but over time a true shoe-shiner might be able to outpoint him in a three round fight. I am excited about the future of Tiafack. He will be tested against Mark Petrovskii of Russia.

Mahammad Abdullayev, AZE – Abdullayev is one of the most polished fighters in this division, yet again, with super heavyweights none of the fighters are jumping out with dominant traits, but Abdullayev is well-rounded and had solid fundamentals to fall back on and he is a southpaw.