After a day of terrific semi-final action at the Uzbekistan Sports Complex in Tashkent it was on to the finals with gold Medals at stake. In addition there were box offs with the chance for the 4 losing quarter finalists to secure 2 world championship places.
The first bout was a box off at bantamweight (56kg) with Bhutan’s Nima Jordi versus Indonesia’s Simon Makarawe. In a really entertaining opening round both landed with left hooks and hard combinations. The excellent action continued in round 2 but Dorji had a point deducted for use of the head which in a close fight was a disaster. Dorji began to rapidly fade in the last round and was holding on for dear life and swinging for the fences. Makarawe, who was feeling the effects of a tough fight himself had just that bit more in the tank to secure the points win and book his spot at the world championships in Hamburg. The second bantamweight box off saw Ryomei Tanaka of Japan face India’s Gaurav Bidhuri. Tanaka flew out of the traps and consistently landed with blistering combinations through the first round. Bidhuri managed to fight his way back in to proceedings but it proved not to be enough as Tanaka claimed the split decision and earned his world championship place in the process. Still at bantamweight it was time to decide the gold Medallist as Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev took on China’s Zhang Jiawei. Akhmadaliev has been in frightening form during the tournament and the Uzbek totally dominated the opening round. Zhang attempted to turn things around but it was to prove a thankless task and Akhmadaliev was the better fighter in every department winning on points and becoming Asian champion. Up at lightweight (60kg) a world championship spot was on the line as Kazakhstan’s Adilet Kurrmetov took on LaiChu-En from Chinese Taipei. Kurrmetov scored with some nice combinations towards the end of the opening round. The Kazak controlled things and won via unanimous decision to seal his place in Hamburg. The other box off at lightweight saw Arashi Morisaka from Japan clash with Farrand Papendang from Indonesia. It was the man from Japan who came through the bout to win on points and make it 2 fighters from the land of the rising sun who will compete at the upcoming world championships. The lightweight final was an intriguing prospect as India’s Shiva Thapa went up against Uzbek Elnur Abduraimov in a contest of 2 high quality boxers. In a keenly contested opening round where Thapa and Abduraimov scored with single shots a clash of heads which left Thapa unable to continue brought the bout to an end. Abduraimov was declared the victor on the cards but in all honesty the fighters and the public were robbed of what was shaping up to be a fantastic tussle between 2 terrific operators. The middleweights (75kg) then took center stage with Indonesia’s Brama Betaubun vying for a world championship birth against Aziz Achilov from Turkmenistan. Achilov stamped his authority on the contest early on, forcing Betaubun to take a standing 8 count and then a crushing right hook left the Indonesian down and out with Achilov winning in devastating style. The other box off saw Syria’s Abdul Mouen Aziz tangle with Filipino Eumir Marcial. Both were looking for openings but Marcial hurt Aziz with a cracking left hand and had it come earlier on in the round it could have been curtains for Aziz. Marcial, who was now brimming with confidence once again had Aziz on shaky legs and patiently picked his punches in a dominant second round for the Filipino. The left hand stunned Aziz at the start of the third and the Syrian had a second point docked for use of the head. Marcial could have easily went for the stoppage but he was content to coast home to a wide points win in what was a power packed display from the 21-year-old. The middleweight final saw Lee Dongyun from Korean up against it with Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov in the other corner. Lee scored with a decent body shot but Madrimov soon opened up, letting rip with his customary explosive combinations and he looked in the mood to do some serious damage. Frustratingly a cut behind the ear opened up resulting in Madrimov being unable to continue leaving the verdict in the hands of the judges and the home man was victorious on a split decision sending the Tashkent crowd in to wild celebrations for the third time. The second session of the day began with the light heavyweight (81kg) box offs as Shabbos Negmatulloev from Tajikistan faced Malaysia’s Hafidz Adli Mohd Pauzi. Mohd Pauzi took an absolute hammering in the opening round with Negmatulloev bullying him back to the ropes. The bombardment continued in round 2 and a warning for excessive holding followed by 2 more standing 8 counts finally brought a conclusion to what was a very one sided fight. The other box off saw India’s Manish Panwar take on Pakistan’s Awais Ali Khan. The first round was pretty devoid of quality with more punches missing than landed. Both men enjoyed success in round 2 in what was a competitive bout. Khan caught Panwar with a big right hand at the start of the final round and unloaded on his opponent. The pair then furiously let their hands go giving it everything they had but at the final bell it was Khan who prevailed via split decision to book his place in Germany. It was then on to the gold medal bout with local star Bektemir Melikuziev versus Yerik Alzhanov from Kazakhstan. Melikuziev showed his class in the opening stanza but Alzhanov hadn’t just come to make up the numbers and the Uzbek suffered a cut on his eye. Alzhanov continued to press forward but Melikuziev went through the gears displaying his full repertoire of skills. Despite being cut on both eyes Melikuziev continued to box superbly and the 21-year-old had clinched the Asian title winning a clear unanimous decision. The first light heavyweight (91kg) box off was between Sanjar Tursunov of Uzbekistan and Salar Gholami of Iran. Gholami controlled the distance pretty well in round 1 with Tursunov struggling to cut off the ring for much of the 3 minutes. Things became very untidy with a lot of holding and clinching on the inside and Tursunov lost a point which left him in a tricky position. The ugly nature of the bout carried on in to round 3 with both boxers losing a point but it was Tursunov who was awarded the split decision in an incident filled contest. The other box off saw China’s Yu Fengkai prevail by walk over versus Mehmood Sanaull of Pakistan. The final bout of the day was between Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit up against India’s Sumit Sangwan to decide who would take gold. Both landed with jabs early on but as the round progressed Levit began to take the ascendancy and forced his man backwards. Sangwan caught Levit with a nice right hand in round 2 but a right hand response came immediately from Levit. The pair exchange more jabs in round 3 but it was Levit’s greater volume of harder shots that saw him deservedly crowned Asian champion via unanimous decision.
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