Delante Johnson Gets Eliminated in Olympic Quarter Finals
Cleveland native and amateur welterweight boxer Delante “Tiger” Johnson (63-18, 1 KO) was eliminated in the quarter finals of the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Tiger suffered his unanimous decision loss at the hands of the favorite to win Gold, Cuban fighter Roniel Iglesias (268-36, 31 KO’s).
RELATED: Freeway Ricky Ross Introduces Delante “Tiger” Johnson!
Going in it was an uphill battle for Johnson (22), as the more seasoned Iglesias (32), had more than three times the fights. Iglesias had also already won a bronze medal in the 2008 Summer Games and gold in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Said to say, Iglesias was never going to be soft touch.
This is not to say Tiger has not enjoyed his own amateur success. Johnson won honors in the 2014 National Junior Olympics, 2015 Youth National Championships, 2017 Elite National Championships, 2019 Pan American Games and obviously the 2021 US Olympic Trails. While it is certainly disappointing to lose, Johnson has nothing to hang his head about. It is a tremendous accomplishment to even make it to the Olympics in the first place.
In his first bout, Tiger was able to overcome Ablaikhan Zhussupov, who hails from Kazakhstan by way of split decision. In the next round he defeated Argentine fighter Brian Arregui. Like his previous match, he also won by split decision. Clearly, Johnson was not able to get passed Iglesias and with that defeat he has been eliminated from the games. Had things gone his way, Tiger would have loved to have won the gold and taken it back to his native Cleveland, Ohio.
The Ohioan’s love of his homeland serves as a big motivation. Tiger also looked to fellow Cleveland fighters such as Charles Conwell and Oshea Jones. Conwell, who is an undefeated professional fighter now, but competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Jones is currently competing in the Olympic Games in the female welterweight division and has a good shot at snagging gold.
By: Bakari Simpson
1 Trackback / Pingback