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Match #1: George W. Bush vs. Benjamin Harrison
Having survived the first round, one major change now comes into play: every fighter has a working knowledge of the other fighters' abilities and fighting styles. Being from vastly different times, many of the first round matches pitted fighters against each other without either of them having any knowledge of their opponent. Now, though, each fighter is coming into the fight having seen their opponent face off before.
This small change makes all the difference in the matches to come.
In Harrison's previous match, our cutest President used his quickness to simply outlast his opponent, going for the easy and eventual win. With this tactical knowledge, even though he has the time advantage, Bush will choose to not attack. Rather than chasing Harrison around for four minutes, he instead saves his energy. A surprisingly wise move from a man so often compared to a chimp.
During the actual match, Harrison has an immediate advantage since his actual fighting style has yet to be seen, whereas Bush's aggressive offense was shown in full force during his match. This advantage comes with a false sense of superiority, though. One fight isn't enough to base your opponent's skills on. Harrison may have a decent idea of Bush's offense, but has no clue of his defensive abilities. Harrison will start throwing punches left and right, but Bush will be right there dodging one after another as if they were shoes being hurled at him by Iraqi journalists.
If there's one fighter in this tournament that shouldn't be underestimated, it's Bush.
Winner:
Match #2: Grover Cleveland vs. George H. W. Bush
Grover Cleveland might just be the coolest President of all time. Being really cool won't necessarily help you win in a fight, though. But that doesn't matter here, because Grover Cleveland is so cool he'll choose to forfeit this match just to see Bush Jr. and Sr. duke it out in the next round. Cleveland knows how great of a match that'd be and is such a cool dude that he's willing to give up his chance at gold to see that happen. Awesome.
He's forgetting, of course, rule #6: No forfeiting. This gives H.W. an ample opportunity to just wail on Cleveland while his guard is down.
I guess Cleveland got his wish after all.
Winner:
