Mexican boxer Marco Verde advanced to the Olympics welterweight gold medal match Tuesday by edging out Great Britain’s Lewis Richardson in a closely contested bout in the 71 kg division.
Verde won the first and third rounds to earn a 3-2 split decision, outboxing the taller Richardson, whose right jab proved problematic for the 22-year-old from Mazatlán. Verde countered Richardson’s height advantage with quick combinations, landing lefts to the head throughout the match.
The Mexican advances to the Olympics’ gold medal match on Friday, where he will face Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev of Uzbekistan. He’ll now be going for Mexico’s third-ever gold in the men’s Olympic sport.
Muydinkhujaev defeated Omari Jones of the United States in a controversial split decision in the other semifinal on Tuesday. Jones and Richardson will end the Games with bronze medals.
Verde had already clinched Mexico’s 14th Olympic boxing medal when he defeated India’s Nishant Dev 4-1 to reach the semifinals.
Mexico has enjoyed considerable success in “the sweet science” at the Olympics, competing in all but one Olympiad since 1928, missing only the 1956 Melbourne Games. Boxers are behind only divers in the number of Olympic medals won.
Verde’s medal is the first-ever for Mexico in the welterweight category. Mexico’s previous Olympic boxing medals came in the bantamweight (four), flyweight (three), featherweight (two), middleweight (two), lightweight (one) and heavyweight (one) divisions.
Verde — winner of a gold medal at the 2023 Pan American Games — is the first Mexican boxer to win an Olympic medal since Misael Rodríguez came home from the 2016 Rio Games with a bronze medal in the middleweight division (75kg).
Before Tuesday’s match, Verde received a message of support from Mexico’s Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, considered one of the best boxers in the world today.
Álvarez, who has held multiple world championships in four weight classes since turning professional in 2005 at the age of 15, expressed his support for Verde in a video he posted on social media: “Congratulations, Marco Verde. Let’s go for the gold! We are 100% behind you. Courage, brother!”
Verde is following in the footsteps of his father, Manuel “Sammy” Verde, who was a member of Mexico’s Olympic boxing team at the 1992 Barcelona Games. “Sammy” fought in the light heavyweight division (81kg), losing his opening match to Frenchman Patrice Aouissi.
With reports from El Financiero, Debate, ESPN and Aristegui Noticias
