Erislandy Alvarez made certain Cuba didn’t depart the Paris Olympics with no boxing gold, edging out France’s Sofiane Oumiha on Wednesday by a 3-2 choice to win the lads’s 63.5 kilogram gold on the Paris Video games.
Cuba, a long-time Olympic boxing powerhouse, had solely left one Olympics with no boxing gold since 1968, once they managed 4 silvers however no golds on the Beijing Video games in 2008. In the event that they have been to keep away from a repeat, Alvarez would want to defeat a hometown fighter who was desirous to cap off his achieved beginner profession with the game’s highest prize.
Alvarez, 24, received off to an aggressive begin in opposition to the 29-year-old Oumiha, closing the gap and winging hooks in opposition to the cell Oumiha, whose protection helped him keep away from some however not all the large pictures. The sturdy begin enabled Alvarez to comb the primary spherical on all 5 playing cards. Needing a tactical change to show the tide, Oumiha started standing his floor and countering extra. Alvarez additionally made an adjustment, utilizing a left uppercut up the center to open up left hook alternatives across the guard. Oumiha answered again by taking a step again earlier than exchanges and seeking to fill the hole with left hook counters. Oumiha was in a position to win the second on three of the playing cards, giving him the slightest window to drag out the match going into the third.
Alvarez pulled out the final spherical by a 4-1 margin along with his aggression, incomes him the victory and denying Oumiha the gold he has sought ever since he earned silver on the Rio Video games in 2016. Oumiha broke down in tears on the choice whereas Alvarez, a former gymnast, celebrated with a backflip at heart ring.
Oleksandr Khyzyniak, the silver medalist from the Tokyo Video games, was in a position to exorcise the demons from three years prior, outworking Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan to win a 3-2 choice within the males’s 80kg remaining.
The nonstop aggression that typifies Khyzniak’s fashion produced a trickle of blood from Oralbay’s nostril. Oralbay did his finest to maintain up with the tempo, on the lookout for counterpunch alternatives, however Khyzniak’s deceptively good protection and unrealistic tempo made {that a} difficult job.
The battle was lifeless even heading into the third, with every boxer forward on two playing cards and the fifth even. The tempo started to inform on Oralbay, who began to offer floor and contact the ropes. Khyzniak took benefit of Oralbay’s exhaustion, mixing in left uppercuts as Oralbay wilted, stumbling out of exhaustion on the remaining bell.
The 29-year-old Khyzhniak of Poltava, Ukraine had made it to the gold medal match three years earlier, however was knocked out in spherical three by Hebert Conceicao Sousa with seconds remaining of a battle he had dominated from the outset.
There’s one gold medal match set for Thursday’s session, with China’s Chang Yuan dealing with Turkey’s Hatice Akbas within the ladies’s 54kg remaining.
Full Outcomes
Ladies’s 57kg – semifinals
Lin Yu Ting (TPE) 5-0 Esra Yildiz Kahraman (TUR)
Julia Szeremeta (POL) 4-1 Nesthy Petecio (PHI)
Males’s +92kg – semifinals
Bakhodir Jalolov (UZB) 5-0 Nelvie Raman Tiafack (GER)
Ayoub Ghadfa Drissi El Aissaoui (ESP) Djamili-Dini Aboudou Moindze (FRA)
Males’s 63.5kg – remaining
Erislandy Alvarez (CUB) 3-2 Sofiane Oumiha (FRA)
Males’s 80kg – remaining
Oleksandr Khyzhniak (UKR) 3-2 Nurbek Oralbay (KAZ)
