Britain's bright young super heavyweight Olympics hope Anthony Joshua was handed a tough first round draw on Friday despite being the second seed.
The 22-year-old, who burst onto the amateur scene last year beating Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle on his way to the world championship final, was drawn against Cuba's Erislandy Savon, nephew of the legendary three-time Olympic heavyweight champion Felix.
The younger Savon, who turned 22 on Friday, won the 2009 Pan American Games title but Azeri Magomedrasul Medhzidov was too good for him at last year's world championships.
Medhzidov has been drawn in the top half of the draw which also comprises Cammarelle, who opted to stay in the amateur ranks despite his Olympic title last time.
The Americans' best hope of a first gold since Andre Ward in 2004, and only their second since the 1996 Games, Jose Ramires was surprisingly not seeded - which would have given him a pass into the second round - and faces Frenchman Rachid Azzedine in the first round.
If 19-year-old Ramires is to achieve America's first gold in the lightweight category since the legendary Oscar de la Hoya in Barcelona in 1992 he will have to overcome experienced second seed Vazgen Safaryants of Belarus in the quarter-finals.
Ramires's older colleague Jamel Herring, a 27-year-old Marine sergeant who has done two tours of duty in Iraq, plans to turn professional later this year when he retires from the Marines and needs a good showing in the light welterweight division.
Herring did not get a kind draw as he drew Kazakhstan's Daniyar Yeleussinov in the first round and is also in the half of the draw comprising hot favourite Everton dos Santos Lopes of Brazil.
China's main hope for gold is defending light fly champion Zou Shiming, a three-time world champion, but he gets a first round bye and will face either Australia's Billy Ward or Cuban Yosbany Veitia.
The women's inaugural competition doesn't get underway till the second week of the Olympics and the most hotly-contested division will be the lightweight one where Ireland's four-time world champion Katie Taylor is hotly-fancied.
However, the draw was not kind to her. She will face either Quanitta 'Queenie' Underwood of the United States or well-regarded Briton Natasha Underwood in the quarter-finals.
Taylor has had tough battles with both in the past few years.
However, Taylor's father Peter, who is her coach, said at the draw that she would have to have fight one of them eventually.
"Katie would be prepared to fight anyone, that's why she's been a world champion four times because she's beaten everybody," said Taylor, who was born in England.
"Every fight is a final, every fight is a gold medal bout."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-hope-joshua-faces-savon-boxing-opener-191421551--oly.html
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