ATHENS, 15 August 2004 — Andre Dirrell gave the American team desperate for gold a nervous but winning start to their Olympic boxing campaign yesterday.
The middleweight, one of the Americans’ best hopes to restore pride after their debacle in Sydney four years ago, was surprised at first by a flurry of blows from China’s Ha Dabateer in a first-round bout.
But the gifted 21-year-old recovered, gradually taking control to score a relatively comfortable 25-18 points win.
“To be nervous at the start is a tradition for me so I was not worried,” said Dirrell, who has “Andre” tattooed across his right shoulder.
Once the dominant force in amateur boxing, the Americans are under heavy pressure to win at least one gold in Athens after leaving the previous Olympics empty-handed for the first time in more than 50 years.
Cuba, who have replaced the United States as the sport’s superpower and have captured the last three Olympic middleweight titles, also started with a win — Yordani Despaigne outpointing Canada’s Jean Pascal 36-24.
Russia, Cuba’s most dangerous rivals on the amateur stage, began brightly too when European champion Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov easily survived the opening round with a 35-13 decision over Christopher Camat of the Philippines.
