Light Flyweight Luis Yanez Eliminated from 2008 Olympic Games

BEIJING, CHINA (August 16, 2008) Light flyweight Luis Yanez of Duncanville, Texas was eliminated from the 2008 Olympic Games on Saturday at the Workers Indoor Arena in Beijing, China, falling to Mongolia’s Serdamba Purevdorj in an 8-7 nail biter.

Yanez opened the bout with a commitment to his jab, popping it in Purevdorj’s face in an attempt to keep the Mongolian from coming in. Despite the active jab, both boxers remained relatively cautious, not wanting to give their opponent an opening. Yanez scored the first blow, but trailed by a 3-2 margin after two minutes of action. He was held scoreless in the second round, while Purevdorj added one scoring blow to his slim margin. Yanez came out firing in the third, throwing a furious flurry in the opening minute of the round to take a 6-5 lead. Yet Purevdorj evened the score before the round ended and the two boxers went into the final round deadlocked at six. The two boxers exchanged ties and leads during the fourth round before Purevdorj moved out to a two-point lead in the final minute. Yanez pressed the Mongolian, looking to regain his advantage, and he pulled with one late in the round, but he couldn’t even up the score and lost the 8-7 final decision.

“This is most tournament of my life. Before I came up here, I talked to my dad and he told me just go in there and do everything you can, and that I’m in his heart and I feel like I let him down,” Yanez said. “I went in there and gave it my all, and I think I should have won this fight. It was definitely an experience. I’m facing the top guys in the world. The best guys in the world, and I want to give a big thanks to God because if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be in this position today.”

“We had a game plan going into the bout. We wanted him to box, but the main thing we wanted him to do was to get up early and get up first,” Olympic Head Coach Dan Campbell said. “We wanted him to engage early. We knew he had faster hands and more power. We wanted him to engage the guy and get up by three and make the guy have to come to him.”

The loss eliminates Yanez from the Olympic Games and leaves only two U.S. boxers remaining in the tournament. Welterweight Demetrius Andrade (Providence, R.I.) and heavyweight Deontay Wilder (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) will kick off quarterfinal competition on Sunday at the Workers Indoor Arena. 2007 World Champion Andrade, who already boasts two victories at the Olympic Games will face Korea’s Jung Joo Kim at approximately 8:45 p.m. Wilder will compete in his second bout of the tournament on Sunday as well, battling Morocco’s Mohammed Arjaoui at 9:30 p.m. As there are less heavyweights in the Olympics, Wilder only had to win once to advance on to the quarterfinals. A victory in Sunday’s competition guarantees each boxer a spot in the medal rounds.

Luis Yanez Quotes

“I think I should have won the 8-7 draw. In the first two rounds, I was just trying to keep it close. That way in the last round, I will be up. In that third round, I came out firing, I thought I was maybe up by two, but they said they had it tied up. In that last round, I went in there hands up; I knew I leaned in with the straight left and he caught me with the straight hook. I give him that. I think I got him with two more punches and it should have been an 8-7 win for me.”

“He (his father) said he was going to be awake and he told me to call him as soon as I’m done. He’s having a lot of prayers around me. He’s my motivation for everything, he plays a big role. He and my coach Dennis Rodarte and Hector Beltran; all three of them are in my heart. I don’t think I could have done anything better out there.”

“Dennis just told me to go out there, have fun and be the Latin Legend that I am. I went in there, I had fun. I didn’t get tired in there. I went in there and did what I had to do.”

“They were trying to tell me to go at him, go at him, go at him. I’m not that fighter to just go out there and throw punches. If I do that, I’m going to get caught with shots and I want to go out there, play it smart and keep my hands up. I wanted to make the fight close. I went in there the last round, I know I should have the last round. That’s the way the judges see it and you can’t overrule the judges.”

“That’s the way my coach always taught me to do, everything off the jab. Throw the jab, make him throw and counter right back with the 2-3-2. Like I said, I went in there, I had my coach and everybody in my heart. When they see this fight, I know they will think I should have won this fight. I have no doubt that I shouldn’t have lost this fight.”

“That’s a big word, it’s over. I can’t consider anything being over. I’m going to go back home with my family. My little brother and sister and especially my dad are there. I don’t know how I’m going to deal with talking to him yet. I know he was really nervous before when I talked to him. I know I could have medaled. I know I could have gotten in the ring with Zou and beat him, but if I can’t beat the opponent in front of me.”

“I love you Dad, I love you Dennis and I love you Hector.”

“My teammates said that they weren’t playing it fair. A lot of World Champions have been getting beat in this tournament and that’s a big disappointment to a lot of people. I wanted to be the disappointment to Zou Shiming. I went in there and gave it my all. I did what I had to do and I guess that’s what the judges saw.”

“Dan told me that I had to throw. I felt like I was up and they told me I was down so I went in there with my hands up and obviously he was running. I went there and I couldn’t get that last point.”

“I just want to go back to my family right now.”

Dan Campbell Quotes

“He started playing the waiting game from the beginning, which we didn’t understand. We were yelling to him in between rounds. We asked him several things – to engage this guy, he has faster hands and to get his hands up. He’d throw half a punch and pull straight back. The main thing was the when he did throw a punch, he was pulling back with his hands down and those were the things that caused him problems.”

“He’s actually a very aggressive boxer until tonight. One of the things that has always helped Luis is his aggression. He didn’t exhibit that. Tonight he decided to stand back and wait and it cost him. He’s always been an aggressive fighter and that’s how he has won in the past.”

“I saw several things and I called back to my technical advisor and asked what he saw. Number one, most of those jabs weren’t landing and so they didn’t give him credit for it. I did see him throw a punch in the third round, catch the guy squarely and the other guy got a point. It is just a carryover of what’s been happening with the officiating. Lack of execution on the part of our boxers, particularly tonight, cost him the bout.”

“When guys start feeling like they are going to get robbed anyway, they revert to a safe way of boxing and to wait seems safe. Even though, they might have the better hand speed and more power, to them, it’s safer to wait because that way they can’t get hit.”