Summary of Day 1 Athens, Final Olympic Qualifier by British Boxing Apr 9th 2008

Monday, 9th April, 2008 Heaven, Hell & Purgatory Heaven: The performance of “Womble” Darran Langley in beating one of the fancied boxers at Light Fly. Hell: The two decisions against Heavyweights Steve Simmons and Danny Price. Purgatory: “Dynamite” Dave Price, Super Heavy., draws the Belarus competitor, fine but, whoops he's a Russian and has boxed for Russia in the past year, a fact clearly stated in the Belarussian's international medical card. “It's deja vu all over again,” as once famously stated by Yankee back stop, Yogi Berra. Remember, “Dynamite” Dave had the same problem in the last Olympic qualifier, in Pescara, when Dave was adjudged to have lost to an Azerbaijani, who was in fact Russia's number two super-heavy. After this fact was pointed out, the Azerbaijani was ejected from the tournament, with the farce of a lottery being held to decide which of the Azer's victims would progress to the qualification deciding bout. All this after the protest at the Price decision had not been upheld by AIBA on technical grounds. Now a protest has been put in as to the Belarus boxer's right to compete. Watch this space, meanwhile Dave Price is burning in Purgatory preparing for a bout that might not happen! Full report: 91kg Heavywt Stephen Simmons, Scotland/Great Britain lost to Petrisor Gananau, Romania 10 – 10 on count back Rd 1 3 -4 ; Rd 2 5 - 6 ; Rd 3 7 – 8 ; Rd 4 10 – 10 Scotland's, Leith Victoria ACC, Heavyweight, “Braveheart” Steve Simmons saw his Olympic dream scored out by myopic button pushers. This was a close contest for two rounds, but the 3rd and 4th rounds should have seen Simmo a clear points winner.  From the off Simmo forced the contest and was always firing more shots than his stocky, Romanian, southpaw, opponent. Counters, particularly from Gananau's, dangerous right hook gave the Romanian the edge over the first two rounds, but the pace Steve was setting was causing the Romanian problems. Brave Heart was landing stiff right hands and solid body shots, leaving Gananau struggling to land clean punches, forcing the Romanian to duck low, hold and fall to the canvas, all to buy time and to get a respite. Admonishments were issued by the ref but a 2 point penalty was not given and Steve was still seen to be a point in arrears at the end of the 3rd. Round 4 was even more one sided to the Scot, he dropped the Romanian for an 8 count with a right cross, plus the Romanian fell to the canvas three times in the round to take a break. Even the judges were forced to bring the scores level which should have seen Simmons a big winner on count back, as Simmons had thrown four times as many punches as Gananau, yet Simmons still did not get the win he had rightly earnt. Steve Simmons: “Gutted, I thought I won clearly. I lost to him in Romania 18 – 8 and he did the same nonsense falling all over the canvas to get a rest. He spent the last two rounds holding, slapping and falling over except when I dropped him. This was an Olympic qualifier, you'd expect the ref to stop that rubbish” Terry Edwards, Great Britain Head Coach: “You saw it, what do you say to a kid who has worked his butt off for four years, boxes as well as that and doesn't get the decision?” 91 kg Heavywt Daniel Price, England/Great Britain lost to Darmos Jozsef, Hungary, 6 - 9 Rd 1 2 -1 ; Rd 2 4 - 5 ; Rd 3 6 - 7 ; Rd 4 6 – 9 What is it about British heavyweights, what have they done to upset the judges here in Athens? Westway ABC's, Scarborough, heavywt, “Priceless” Danny Price boxed a classy 1st round with quick left leads and fast right hands following, but only came away with a 1 point lead when he should have been 4 points up. A scrappy 2nd round did see Hungary's Darmos Jozsef close the gap,but somehow the Hungarian found himself with a 1 point lead. Slaps and indeterminate swishes were scoring for Jozsef, whilst the clean straight shots and clear thudding body punches of Price did not move the computer at all. Danny should have kept his boxing at range, he did allow Jozsef to hold inside, but still Price should have run out the winner. Could Danny have done more? Yes. Should Danny have done more? Yes, but he still did more than enough to win this contest. Beijing is not to be for the young, talented, Yorkshireman, but he has a big future if he learns to use his considerable boxing skills and the reach advantage his 6' 5” frame gives him. It is up to Danny to realize how good he is and how good he can become. Danny Price: “I could have done so much more, I don't know why I don't put my gym work into my contests? I feel I've let myself and everyone around me down. I expected to qualify here.” Terry Edwards, GB Head Coach: “Am I seeing something different? I'd be the first to coat Dan if I thought he hadn't performed, the judges weren't scoring his shots and the Hungarian was getting points for everything he landed whether right or wrong. I hate sounding so miserable, but neither of the heavys got a fair shake tonight.”

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