31 nations reach Quarter Finals in Hamburg as preliminary-round bouts come to an end on Day Four

Monday in Hamburg saw the Flyweight (52kg), Lightweight (60kg), Welterweight (69kg), Light Heavyweight (81kg) and Super Heavyweight (+91kg) boxers in action across two sessions, each of them looking to secure their place in Tuesday’s Quarter-Finals and take a big step closer to World Championship gold.

THREE ROUNDS FROM DAY FOUR

ROUND ONE: Mongolia maintain 100% record
It was another excellent day in the ring for the Mongolian team as Otgondalai Dorjnyambuu (60kg) and Tuvshinbat Byamba (69kg) became the third and fourth members of the side to reach Tuesday’s Quarter-Finals. The team has once again resuscitated its rich boxing tradition in the wake of Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan’s 2008 Olympic gold, and the new generation has performed brilliantly so far in Hamburg.

ROUND TWO: Last man standing
Of the 31 nations remaining in the competition at the Quarter-Final stage, thirteen are now represented by one boxer. Among them are the notable figures of Ecuador’s Carlos Mina (81kg), Korea’s Inkyu Kim (52kg), Shabbos Negmatulloev (81kg) of Tajikstan, Netherlands’ Roy Korving (91kg), China’s Jiawei Zhang (56kg) and Ireland’s Joe Ward (81kg).

ROUND THREE: France enter the fray
Day Four saw the French boxers enter the ring for the first time, with Olympic silver medallist Sofiane Oumiha (60kg) and Djamili-Dini Aboudou-Moindze (+91kg) in action during the evening session. Impressive victories put both one more win from a precious medal as French Boxing rebuilds towards Tokyo in its bid to replicate the hugely successful Rio 2016 Olympic campaign.

DAY FOUR RECAP
Four high-quality Flyweight (52kg) bouts began Day Four, including a brilliant final-round display from the exciting Spanish talent Gabriel Escobar that earned him a split-decision victory over Israel’s David Alaverdian and a place in the last eight. He will now meet Cuba’s Yosbany Veitia, silver medallist in Doha two years ago, while Russia’s Tamir Galanov and Italian Manuel Cappai also progressed with impressive wins.

Venezuela’s Gabriel Maestre vs India’s Manoj Kumar

Cuban Lightweight (60kg) Lazaro Alvarez’s pursuit of a fourth consecutive World Championship title got off to the perfect start with a unanimous win over Netherlands’ Enrico Lacruz, before the two tough Welterweight (69kg) boxers Manoj Kumar of India and Venezuela’s Gabriel Maestre went toe-to-toe for a place in the last eight, the 30-year-old Maestre hoping to return to the World Championship podium after his bronze in 2013.

The unerring accuracy of German Light Heavyweight (81kg) Ibragim Bazuev saw him through a tough test against England’s Thomas Hart, and Uzbekistan’s Super Heavyweight (+91kg) medal prospect Bakhodir Jalolov delivered an early lesson in power punching to ensure a first-round victory against Denmark’s Kem Larsen. Jalolov now meets Kazakhstan’s equally impressive Kamshybek Kunkabayev on Tuesday. Cameroon’s big-hitting Fokou Arsene’s win over Moldovan Alexei Zavatin set up a Quarter-Final against Colombia’s Cristian Salcedo, winner of an attrition bout with Ireland’s Dean Gardiner.

The evening session saw a thrilling contest between two Continental Flyweight (52kg) Champions, and after three tight rounds it was Uzbekistan’s Jasurbek Latipov who edged the points decision against Bulgarian Daniel Asenov.

In Ring A, India’s Kavinder Bisht defeated another 2017 Continental Champion, Algeria’s Mohamed Flissi, and a brilliant bout between Ireland’s Brendan Irvine and South Korea’s ever-accurate Kim Inkyu saw the man who lost this year’s ASBC Final against Latipov progress, along with Colombia’s Ceiber Segura.

German Welterweight (69kg) Abass Baraou recovered from a slow start to leave his Dominican opponent Juan Solano Santos on the canvas twice and himself one bout away from a medal, before triple European Champion Joe Ward put in an exhibition of Light Heavyweight (81kg) boxing against Georgia’s Iago Kizira as the Irishman began his quest for a first World Championship title.

One of the bouts of the day on paper, Uzbek Bektemir Melikuziev and Russian Muslim Gadzhimagomedov’s contest also lived up to expectations, Melikuziev using all his experience to summon the stronger finish and reach the last eight. The Super Heavyweights (+91kg) wrapped up the fourth day, with Australia’s Joseph Goodall narrowly beating Ukrainian third seed Viktor Vykhryst and Azerbaijan’s Mahammadrasul Majidov eliminating Jordanian second-seed Hussein Iashaish.

For all the day’s results CLICK HERE

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