Briton Price starts with efficient win

BEIJING (Reuters) - British super-heavyweight David Price started the Olympic boxing competition efficiently with a second-round stoppage of top Russian Islam Timurziev on Wednesday.

Price was trailing Timurziev, the European champion and a world championship bronze medallist, 2-0 after the first round but he knocked down his opponent twice in the second.

He brought down Timurziev with a left-right combination and again with a fierce left before the referee stepped in to stop the fight 31 seconds into the second round.

The win put Price through to the quarter-finals and left him one win away from a medal but the massive Liverpudlian, who stands 203 cm tall and weighs 110 kg, remained cautious.

"This is a great start but we'll take it one fight win at a time," Price said after emulating compatriot Audley Harrison, who started his run to the super-heavyweight gold medal in 2000 in Sydney by stopping a Russian opponent.

"This fellow's the real deal," British coach Terry Edwards, who guided Harrison to his Olympic title, said of Price. "Over the last 18 months he just got stronger and stronger."

FIRST CUBAN

Price will next face Lithuania's Jaroslav Jaksto and no longer has to worry about Robert Alfonso, who became the first Cuban to bow out when he was outpointed by Ukraine's Vyacheslav Glazkov.

Alfonso, who looked sluggish on his way to a 5-3 points defeat, left the superpower of amateur boxing with nine boxers out of 10 going into the second round, which starts on Thursday.

The fifth day of action had started with China's top prospect Zou Shiming beginning his campaign with a comfortable points win over Venezuela's Eduard Bermudez Salas to deafening roars from a partisan crowd.

"I was a little nervous before the fight but when I got into the ring, I heard all the spectators cheering for me and then I forgot about the pressure," said Zou, who will be tested in the next round against world championship bronze medallist Nordine Oubaali of France.

On a day of contrasts, the heavyweights also took to the ring with Cuba's Osmay Acosta outclassing Nigerian Olanrewaju Durodola 11-0.

Cuba have won the last four Olympic heavyweight titles but are without 2004 champion Odlanier Solis, who defected to turn professional.

Italy's Clemente Russo, the world heavyweight champion, also made a smooth start, outpointing Viktar Zuyev of Belarus 7-1.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)