NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 10 – Kenya’s boxer Peter Mungai crashed out of the Rio Olympic Games after losing to Cuban Argilagos Joahnys in the quarter-finals of the men’s light flyweight on Wednesday.
Mungai, lost all the three rounds after Joahnys dominated the entire bout to book a date with Colombian Yurberjen Martinez in the semi-finals scheduled for Friday.
It was a bad day in office for Mungai, who edged out Chinese Lv Bin in the round of 16 as the Cuban stood tall to collect all the 30 points available from the three judges.
He managed to bag nine points in round one from all the judges with the second round getting worse to see one of the panelists award him eight points while Joahnys collected all the 30 points once again.
The final round was not different as Mungai failed to stabilize with his jabs missing the target to bow out without a win in the contest that could have seen him become the first Kenyan to enter into the 2016 Rio Olympics medal bracket if he had won.
The 19-year-old Cuban prodigy and world champion had Mungai running around in circles on the way to a unanimous points decision.
Argilagos displayed the full array of his electric footwork, at one point ducking a Mungai haymaker, whose momentum took him tumbling into the ropes.
The Cuban merely grinned back at his opponent and later delivered a sucker-punch while appearing to look in the opposite direction.
“I felt more confident that in my first fight. I knew I was going to bring joy to Cuba and I stuck to my tactical masterplan,” said Argilagos, after delivering one of the most impressive boxing displays in Rio to date.
“The Colombian is going to be a very tough rival,” added Argilagos, also a former youth world champion and one of the hottest prospects around.
“We have never fought but we have trained together and I know that he has some good weapons.”
Attention now shifts to Benson Gicharu who takes to the ring tonight (Wednesday) in the men’s bantamweight category while African champion Rayton Okwiri will face Moroccan Mohammed Rabii in the welterweight round of 16 on Thursday.