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USA’s Carlos Balderas Wins Opening Bout in Rio

Carlos Balderas Wins

On Saturday, August 6, 2016, Carlos Balderas became the first American boxer to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in a lightweight contest against Kazakhstan’s Berik Abdrahkhmanov.

AP Photo

On Saturday, August 6, 2016, Carlos Balderas became the first American boxer to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in a lightweight contest against Kazakhstan’s Berik Abdrahkhmanov.

With a strong group of supporters cheering him on, Balderas overcame a slow start to top Abdrakhmanov by unanimous decision with scores of 29-28 across the board.

Balderas took a round to warm up, but in the second and third stanza’s he showed exceptional quickness, combination punching and the ability to consistently evade Abdrahkhmanov’s return shots.

By the third round, the commentating team summed up the contest by stating that Abdrahkhmanov was “chasing shadows in the end.”

Balderas moves on to face Japan’s Daisuke Narimatsu on Tuesday, August 9, 2016.

Narimatsu won earlier in the day against Venezuela’s Luis Cabreras by split decision.

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