The United States, Britain and Ireland have made excellent starts to the Olympic Games boxing competition in London.

The Americans won their first four fights, and the British and Irish fighters got three out of three at the weekend.

Jose Ramirez, who is regarded as the boxer who can win a lightweight gold medal for the US for the first time since Oscar de la Hoya did so in Barcelona 20 years ago, squeezed through the first round on Sunday.

The 19-year-old’s victory over the 29-year-old Rachid Azzedine took the Americans to an impressive 3-0 after two days of boxing.

Shortly afterwards Errol Spence made it four from four, beating Brazilian Myke Ribeiro de Carvalho in their welterweight clash.

The US have won only one boxing gold medal since the 1996 Atlanta Games – by light-heavyweight Andre Ward in 2004.

Ramirez was the one many had come to see and he did not disappoint. He settled down to land some slick combinations on the Frenchman, who had gained a wild-card entry after breaking his jaw last year.

"I was really excited. I was even talking on Skype to my family as I was getting ready," Ramirez said after the bout.

"But I went in a little tense when I realised the atmosphere was totally different from anything I had encountered before.

"I settled pretty quickly and then it kind of flowed as I was motivated by all the people I knew were watching me."

Azzedine, whose team-mate Aexis Vastine, the 2008 lightweight bronze medallist, had won earlier in the day, admitted he had got it wrong despite the closeness of the result.

"I made the mistake of going to war with him and I wasn't able to win it," he said.

Brazil’s Robson Conceicao was left with a sour taste in his mouth after losing to Britain’s Josh Taylor.

They clashed violently in what was meant to be a gentle pre-Olympic sparring session last week. "You could say it got pretty tasty!" the 21-year-old Scot said on Sunday.

He was grinning. Conceicao, though, was steaming over the judges’ decision. "It is unfair. They're ruining my job," he said.

The angry Brazilian claimed he was robbed of victory because Taylor is from the UK. He lost 9-13, trailing after every round.

Taylor, a former British taekwondo champion, admitted there was bad blood between them since a training camp for Brazilian and British boxers.

The 21-year-old Scot now faces third seed Domenico Valentino from Italy.