India's Shiva Thapa went down fighting in his prelimnary round of 32 bout in the bantamweight category, losing to Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez on points, 27-30, 27-30 and 25-30. Thapa was considered India's best bet for a medal in boxing, but a tough draw saw him go up against Ramirez, who was just too good on the day.
The first round saw both boxers remain a little cautious as they tried to gauge each other out. With not a lot of accurate punches, the round went in favour of the southpaw Ramirez, who landed his jabs with a higher consistency compared to Thapa, who didn't really play with his guard raised a lot.
The Cuban did the most damage in the second round, moving in smoothly to work on the Indian with a series of jabs and hooks. The 22-year-old from Assam managed to land a couple of good punches, but Ramirez then did a lot of damage, landing about four or five punches in a row, cutting open Thapa above his left eye, which required attention from the ringside doctor.
The final round saw Ramirez go in for the kill, rounding in on an already suffering Thapa, hitting him with a series of jabs and hooks. The Indian did go close with a couple of roundhouse right hooks, but the Cuban was too quick for him, weaving in and out of his attacks, counter-attacking Thapa with precision.
It was no surprise to see Robeisy Ramirez get the nod for the win as his punching and defense on the day was of a much higher quality, with all three judges scoring him a perfect 10 on all three rounds. Shiva Thapa received a total score of 27, 27 and 25 from the judges, quite inferior when compared to Ramirez's score of 30, 30 and 30.
