Team GB's super-heavyweight Anthony Joshua scraped through to
the last 16 when he defeated Cuba's Erislandy Savon by the tightest
of margins at the Excel Centre last night.
The Londoner defeated his foe by 17 points to 16 in a fight
which could have gone either way.
Joshua, 22, struggled to get to grips with Savon, nephew of the
legendary three-time gold medallist Felix, in the opening round
before battling back to take a contentious decision.
"The atmosphere definitely spurred me on, but I was calmer than
I thought in there," Joshua told the BBC afterwards.
"We were both whacking each other with shots, we kept fighting
to the last bell and let the judges do the scoring.
"Savon is a tidy boxer, that being my first fight will put me in
good stead for the rest. The atmosphere is unbelievable out there
and I have to give them great respect."
He will now face China's Zhilei Zhang, who defeated Johan Linde
of Australia yesterday.
Meanwhile, Luke Campbell beat Jahyn Vittorio Parrinello of Italy
in an interesting clash of styles bout at bantamweight.
Often the two boxers got tangled up and things were scrappy but
Campbell, from Hull, prevailed 11-9.
02/08/2012 10:47:18