Olympic Boxing: Vikas pips Spence to the Quarters in controversial bout

Vikas Krishan pipped past Errol Spence in a controversial bout to qualify for the Quarter finals at the London Olympics. Vikas Krishan took on Errol Spence of USA for his round of 16 bout in Men’s Welter weight (69kg) category and won his bout by a slender margin of 13-11 points. The American Errol Spence seemed to have done enough to win the bout but the final decision from the judges ruled it in the Indian’s favor.

In a rare fight of two southpaws, the fight began with Vikas defending and Errol firing in all cylinders. Vikas kept up a solid guard and slipped in enough to keep the strong American at bay. He displayed better footwork than the American and kept out of his jabs to take the round by 4-2 points.

The second round also saw Vikas keeping up a tight guard. Errol however continued his attacking ways and kept knocking at the Indian’s guard. Vikas defended well for the first half of the round but a lapse in concentration saw him drop his guard ever so slightly. That was enough for the American to take advantage and unleash a flurry of punches. Vikas recovered with a few good 1-2 combinations to keep the lead down to 6-5 in the second round.

The third round, Errol went berserk and attacked Vikas from all quarters. The Indian boxer also went for it and landed a few good punches on the American. As the round progresses, both boxers looked tired and kept throwing erratic punches at each other. The American looked to have the round under control with his left hand acting as a trip hammer on Vikas. Vikas tried to hold a tight guard but the relentless attack from the American got the better of it. Second half of the last round saw Vikas loosing all his steam , he was clinching Spence in order to avoid the punches.  At any moment one good jab would have knocked  down Vikas.  He was trying to defend hopelessly and his occasional punches landed randomly in the air.

Though to everyones shock the round ended surprisingly in favor of Vikas with score of 4-3

Everyone in the arena seemed confident of the American’s victory and the referee didn’t help matters by raising Errol’s hand as the winner. He quickly raised Vikas’ hand as the announcer declared the scores in favor of the Bhiwani boxer. The American was distraught at the decision with Vikas Krishan himself looking surprised.

This was Vikas’ first fight as he got through the first round as a bye. Errol however, beat Myke Ribeiro de Carvalho of Brazil convincingly by a score of 16-10.

Vikas became the second boxer to qualify for the Quarter finals after Vijender Singh defeated Gausha from America yesterday. With the exit of Errol, USA now has all it’s boxers out of the Games. Vikas Krishan will take on the winner of the bout between Adam Nolan and Andrey Zamkovoy on the 7th August.

UPDATED: The decision was overturned and Spence was declared as winner https://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/08/04/vikas-krishan-loses-a-bout-he-won-five-hours-earlier/