The final days action from the Uzbekistan Sports Complex in Tashkent saw the other 5 gold Medals being decided and also the remaining 10 box offs with world championship places also on the line.
The action commenced with the light flyweight (49kg) box offs as Kazakhstan’s Zhomart Yerzhan was up against Indonesia’s Cornelis Kwangu Langu. Kwangu Langu began brightly but as the opening round progressed the straight punches of Zhomart drove his opponent backwards. The pair engaged in a highly entertaining second round where both scored with plenty of shots. Yerzhan came out fast to start the final stanza but Kwangu Langu responded with some cracking left hooks as a real war broke out with both boxers desperate to secure their places in Hamburg. At the final bell it was Kwangu Langu who got the split decision in what was a superb 9 minutes of non-stop action. The other box off was contested between China’s He Junjun and Syria’s Hussin Al Masri. A good right hand from He was the most memorable action from the opening round. Al Masri struggled with his accuracy as he simply was throwing his punches from too far out therefore making it straight forward for He to counter him. The counter right hand proved to be a fruitful shot for He but it was Al Masri who claimed the unanimous decision in a rather ungainly and messy fight. The atmosphere then reached fever pitch as local superstar Hasanboy Dusmatov took on Mongolia’s Erdeen Gan-Gankhuyag in the light flyweight final. Dusmatov’s quick hands and quick feet were on full display in round 1 but Gankhuyag had his moments when he managed to close the distance. Gankhuyag was unable to sustain any sort of momentum as the mesmeric movement and boxing skills of Dusmatov were now taking over. Not much of significance was landed in round 3 but there was no doubt of the winner as the Uzbek retained his Asian crown with the unanimous decision sparking celebrations in the crowd. We moved to the flyweight (52kg) division and in the first box off India’s Kavinder Singh won his bout against Abdul Salam Kasim via walk over. The other box off saw Sri Lanka’s Seneviratne Bandara up against Japan’s Ryusei Baba. Baba was completely right hand happy but it worked as he caught Bandara with the shot time after time during the first 2 rounds. A point off for not keeping his head up slightly complicated things for Baba in round 3 but the man from Japan did enough to claim the deserved split decision and book his spot at the world championships. The gold medal bout saw Uzbek Jasurbek Latipov face Korea’s Kim Inkyu. Kim was in charge for much of the opening round, tagging his man as he came forward but Latipov managed to find his range in the last 30 seconds or so. Latipov scored with 2 excellent single shots to begin round 2 and he hit the target fairly frequently throughout the whole 3 minutes. Kim came out with aggressive intent but the final round was blighted by much holding and clinching. At the final bell it was Latipov who was declared the winner, taking Asian gold with the judges all favouring him on the cards. Next up at light welterweight (64kg) the first box off saw Indonesia’s Saraogatua Lumbantobin face Wang Gang from China. It was Wang who booked his world championship spot in terrific style as he drilled the Indonesian with hard shots to both body and head and Lumbantobin was dumped on the canvas in the first round with the contest being rightly stopped. The second box off saw Sri Lanka’s Dushan Saparamadu claim his place in Germany with a walk over result over Chinese Taipei’s Pan Hung-Ming. Mongolia’s Chinzorig Baatarsukh squared off against home man Ikboljon Kholdarov in the light welterweight final. Baatarsukh came out all guns blazing and drilled Kholdarov with a crunching right hand as he seem to dominate round 1. The second round was a lot more competitive with both men landing in a cracking 3 minutes of action. Baatarsukh, knowing he needed to make it a conclusive victory chin checked Kholdarov with some hard right hands once again in round 3 with the Uzbek showing he had good whiskers to his credit. The Mongolian looked to have done more than enough to win gold however, the judges disagreed and Kholdarov won the unanimous decision, giving Uzbekistan their 7th gold medal in this tournament. The last session began with the welterweight (69kg) box offs with Koreas Lee Seunghyeon versus Syria’s Ahmad Ghosson. Both were looking to counter in the opening round but a right hand from Lee put Ghosson down but it was ruled a slip with Lee unfortunate not to have been awarded a knockdown. Ghosson got to grips with proceedings and had an excellent round 2. 2 point deductions for careless use of the head in round 3 left Lee with an impossible task and it was Ghosson who prevailed via unanimous decision and went through to the world championships. The other box off saw India’s Manoj Kumar face China’s Liu Wei. Kumar wanted to box from range with Liu attempting to close the distance and it was a tight opening round. Liu had some more success on the inside in round 2 but a point deduction for use of the head undid any good work he may have had. Knowing he needed a huge round Liu poured it on constantly throwing hard punches but Kumar used his left jab to great effect. Liu never stopped coming forward and a late point loss for Kumar left the fight right in the balance but it was Kumar who grabbed the split decision to guarantee his world championship birth. The welterweight final saw Uzbek Shakhram Giyasov tackle Kazak Ablaikhan Zhussupov. It was a rapid start to the contest with both fighters letting their hands go before Giyasov put Zhussupov down with a right hand in the opening round but to his credit Zhussupov recovered well and scored with some solid southpaw lefts of his own. The pace slowed in round 2 but it was Giyasov who got home with the more telling blows. Zhussupov did his best to turn things around but it was the Uzbek who won the unanimous decision giving his country their 8th Asian gold. The super heavyweights (91+kg) then took to the ring with Korea’s Kim Dohyeon victorious in his box off over Sri Lanka’s Duwaneka Addurakaram via walk over. The final box off was between India’s Satish Kumar and China’s MuHaipeng. Kumar produced an outstanding performance to completely out box his opponent who was left confused and bewildered. Mu never got anything going due to Kumar’s terrific foot work and straight punches and the Indian prevailed via unanimous decision and booked his place in Germany with a stylish display. The final bout of proceedings was the contest to decide super heavyweight gold as Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov squared off against Kazakhstan’s Kanshybek Kunkabayev. Both scored with significant punches in a closely fought opening stanza. Kunkabayev was forcing his opponent to retreat in round 2 but a point off for holding put him in a precarious position. Kunkabayev continued to pour forward but Jalolov landed some stinging left hands in the final round as both boxers felt the effects of a hard fought encounter. It was Jalolov who was victorious on points meaning Uzbekistan came away with 9 gold Medals from the championships, the most any nation has ever claimed. A few overall thoughts from the last week’s events and as expected Uzbekistan reigned supreme with Kazakhstan not too far behind them. India continue to make great strides forward and Mongolia, China and the Philippines can be fairly satisfied with their weeks work. It was wonderful to see the encouraging signs for the future from Syria and Indonesia however, Japan will be disappointed not to have come away with any medals and Thailand had a tournament to forget with no boxers through to the world championships.
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