BEIJING, Aug 8: American world champion Rau’shee Warren was drawn against his predecessor Lee Ok-Sung of Korea in a mouth-watering first round clash in boxing’s flyweight division following Friday’s draw here.

It is one of several titanic early battles that can be expected in boxing where there is no seeding system in place.

In the featherweight category world champion Albert Selimov of Russia faces a re-run of last year’s World Championship final against Ukraine’s Vasyl Lomachenko in his first bout.

At light-welterweight, Thailand’s reigning Olympic champion Boonjumnong Manus could face world champion Serik Sapiyev of Russia in the quarter-finals if both come through their second round clashes after first round byes.

Boonjumnong drew Japan’s Masatsugu Kawachi in an all-Asian battle while Sapiyev will face Jonny Sanchez of Venezuela.

Middleweight will also likely see a crunch second round clash if double world champion Matvey Korobov of Russia overcomes Sweden’s Naim Terbunja in the first round and reigning welterweight Olympic champion Bakhtiyar Artayev of Kazakhstan dismisses Morocco’s Said Rachidi in his opening bout.

In most other weights the favourites were generally kept apart until at least the semi-finals, although the Cuban team could easily cause a few upsets with their little-known but talented boxers.

Lightweight Yordenis Ugas is the only member of their team to have won a world or Olympic title as most of their top boxers of recent years have either retired or defected in order to join the professional ranks.

Ugas, the 2005 world champion, was separated from Russian Alexey Tishchenko, the division favourite now that British world champion Frankie Gavin has gone.

Gavin was sent home by the British team on Thursday because they were worried he would endanger his health if he tried to make the 60kg limit.

That drastic move seemed less severe with the news on Friday that American bantamweight JR Gary Russell had been taken ill with dehydration following his efforts to make 54kg and consequently missed the weigh in.

Tishchenko was the Olympic champion in 2004 and world champion in 2005 at featherweight before stepping up a division.

He then took bronze at last year’s World Championships in Chicago, losing to Gavin in the semi-finals.

A potential final between the Russian and Ugas would be the purists’ dream, although the Cuban has a hazardous draw.

His likely second round opponent will be Italy’s Domenico Valentino, runner-up to Gavin in Chicago, while potentially in the semi-final he could face North Korean Kim Song-Guk, silver medallist behind Tishchenko in Athens and a bronze medallist in Chicago.

At welterweight American world champion Demetrius Andrade was drawn in the opposite half of the table to Thailand’s Boonjumnong Non, the man he beat in the Chicago final.

At super-heavyweight world champion Roberto Cammarelle of Italy is due to face the Russian favourite Islam Timurziev in the semi-final with world silver medallist Vyacheslav Glazkov of Ukraine or Cuban Robert Alfonso Acea, who meet in the first round, the probable final opponent.

At heavyweight Italian world champion Clemente Russo received a tough first round draw against Belarussian Viktar Zuyeu, the silver medallist from Athens.—AFP