MK254
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- May 11, 2013
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Kenya's Rayton Nduku Okwiri produced the biggest shock of the boxing so far at the Rio Games on Sunday when he defeated Russia's welterweight London bronze medallist on a split decision.
The 9,000-seat arena gave the Russian boxers and a smattering of their fans a few half-hearted boos, after all 11 of the country's fighters were cleared to compete in Rio despite revelations of rampant state-run doping across Russian sports.
Okwiri was the underdog against Andrei Zamkovoi, who won bronze four years ago, in their welterweight clash. But he made a nonsense of that and quickly endeared himself to the largely Brazilian crowd, who booed when the few Russian supporters chanted and shouted "Kenya! Kenya!" as the 30-year-old Okwiri kept pursuing his foe. "We were prepared and we had a good game plan with the coaches and everything went as well as we had prepared," said the Kenyan. "Having the crowd on my side helped me a lot because when I punched I could hear them shouting so I gained a lot of confidence."
Earlier, another Russian, Adlan Abdurashidov declined to speak to media after outclassing Thadius Katua in the lightweight class. Abdurashidov was the classier fighter in earning a unanimous points decision over the Papua New Guinea man, who grew up using punchbags filled with sawdust and would lay rope on the ground as a makeshift ring in his village.
Read more at: Kenyan underdog thrills boo boys to beat Russian boxer