Shawn Estrada loses in his second bout in Beijing
OLYMPIC BOXING
The East L.A. middleweight, who likely will turn professional later this year, falls behind early to James Degale and the veteran British boxer pulls away for an 11-5 decision.
BEIJING -- Middleweight Shawn Estrada's fairy tale run toward an Olympic medal came to an end Saturday when the East Los Angeles boxer dropped an 11-5 decision to James Degale of Britain in a second-round bout.
"I had a bad day. But you know it's the Olympics. There's no such thing as bad days in the Olympics," said Estrada, who is leaning toward turning professional, perhaps making his pro debut before the end of the year.
"I did everything I could do. We banged it out and he came up the winner."
After a scoreless first period in which Degale repeatedly ducked and sidestepped Estrada's charges, the American came out more aggressively at the start of the second round. But none of his punches landed in the scoring area and Degale took a 2-0 lead in the final minute, and a 3-1 advantage by the middle of the four-round bout.
Emboldened, Degale spent the third round alternately fighting Estrada and grabbing the back of the American's head gear and pushing his head down. But the strange strategy worked as his lead swelled to 6-3 heading into the final round.
"We thought he was going to fight as a righty and he fought as a lefty," said Estrada, who snapped the Brit's head back with one hard punch but was hurt repeatedly on the scorecards by Degale's left hand. "I was trying to counterpunch him. But when I fell behind, it's hard to do the catch-up."
Desperate, Estrada was able to mount a sustained comeback in a wild final two minutes as Degale danced around the ring to protect his lead.
"We fought in there, we were both warriors," Estrada said. "This is not the end of the road for Shawn Estrada."
A surprise winner at last summer's U.S. Olympic trials, Estrada came to Beijing as a longshot after needing to go to the final bout of the final regional Olympic qualifier just to get here. But he got a comfortable draw in his first fight and easily handled Argentina's Ezquiel Maderna, whom he beat in the qualifier.
Degale, however, posed a different challenge. A standup boxer who made his international debut four years ago, Degale is a classic fighter who uses his long right arm to keep opponents away, a bad match from a brawler like Estrada. The Brit beat three-time Olympian Mohamed Hikal of Egypt in his Beijing debut.
"I was not even supposed to be here. I'm happy that I'm Mexican-American representing my country at this weight," Estrada said. "There's never been a Mexican-American this big to represent the U.S. I'm making history.
"And everybody's seen that I'm a great fighter, I'm a good boxer. And I made a mark today, showed the world what I can do. The Olympics are over. It's been a long 11 months away from home. We sacrificed. It's been a lot. And I'm happy with my performance.
"I can leave here today and say I'm an Olympian."
With Saturday's win, Degale advances to fight Bakhtiyar Artayev, who came from behind in the final period to upset gold medal favorite Matvey Korobov of Russia on Saturday.
kevin.baxter@latimes.com
