The first of these gold medals was won in the opening bout of the day where Birzhan Zhakypov took on Algeria's Mohamed Flissi at light flyweight.

Flissi looked to capitalise on the subdued home support on offer for Zhakypov in this early encounter and landed some nice hooks early on.

But Zhakypov found his rhythm after that and started showing some of the form that had brought him to the final, countering well and picking his punches with efficiency.

The bout continued in much the same fashion - Flissi swinging punches, somewhat wildly in some instances, at his opponent, while Zhakypov scored consistently with highly accurate jabs.

The home favourite had an obvious lead going into the final round and, despite Flissi scoring some heavy shots at the beginning of the round, managed to shut the match down to become the first male world champion in 2013.

This was the first major tournament win in the 29-year-old's career and it genuinely brought tears to the eyes of many in the audience when the Kazakhstan flag was raised and the anthem sung.

Birzhan Zhakypov opened the account for the home nation, securing the first gold medal of the Boxing World Championships

The flyweight final saw the coming together of Russian southpaw Misha Aloyan and Uzbekistan's Jasurbek Latipov in a particularly tense encounter.

Both boxers look poised to attack throughout the first two rounds, however, neither seemed to want to pull the trigger at the risk of exposing themselves to the other.

It was not until the final round that the chains came off and they began to unleash their fury upon the other.

Aloyan did well to manoeuvre his opponent into a corner during the latter stages of the round and used his terrific arsenal to lay some great combinations onto Latipov.

At the final bell it was Aloyan who took the bout by split decision.

Azerbaijan's Javid Chalabiyev has developed quite a reputation for causing major upsets throughout this tournament and his bantamweight final against Russia's Vladimir Nikitin was no exception.

The unseeded boxer decided early on that attack was going to be his best form of defence and laid constant siege to Nikitin.

Nikitin is thought of as the hardest puncher in the world at this weight division and you could see this reputation surface every time he managed to throw a punch.

The problem for him was the lack of opportunity he had to unleash one of these monstrous punches, as his opponent gave him absolutely no respite from the onslaught he was throwing his way.

Although not the most powerful of punches, nor the most accurate, the sheer number of Chalabiyev's punches made it nigh on impossible for Nikitin to mount any form of systematic offensive and proved a great tactic to give the boxer from Azerbaijan the win, and the world title.

Javid Chalabiyev (red) was relentless in his pursuit for the bantamweight world title in Almaty


One of the best bouts of the day came in the lightweight title fight between Cuba's Lázaro Álvarez and Brazil's Robson Conceição.

Álvarez was looking to win his second successive gold medal at a World Championships, having taken gold in the bantamweight division of the 2011 event in Baku.

Each boxer scored heavily and surprisingly often in this highly energetic and entertaining bout, with neither athlete seeming to feel the pressure that normally comes with a final.

Eventually, it was Álvarez who came out on top and who will travel back to his country a happy man, having won successive titles in two different weight categories.

The light welterweight boxers may want to keep an eye on the Cuban should he look to continue this title winning streak.

That division saw a race between Cuba and host nation Kazakhstan to take the second gold medal of the day.

Cuban Yasnier López looked relatively calm as he walked into the ring, despite the raucous support being shown for his opponent, home favourite Merey Akshalov.

Akshalov has been one of the key boxers of the tournament so far and, clearly riled up by his home support, went to work quickly on his opponent, chasing him around the ring to land some telling early blows.

López struggled from then on in and his usual hit and move tactic was predominantly curtailed by the clever footwork of Akshalov.

The end of the bout saw a clear victory for the Kazakhstan boxer who claimed the title and gave them their second gold medal of the tournament.

National team captain Daniyar Yeleussinov squared up against Arisnoidys Despaigne at welterweight, in a second Cuba versus Kazakhstan final.

Despaigne has built a reputation as one of the most aggressive boxers in the competition thus far and continued to bolster this façade as he set upon his opponent from the go.

This left Yeleussinov to fight from the outside, a strategy he worked very well, and he began picking his punches in an attempt to punish his dangerous opponent.

Despaigne learned early on that Yeleussinov packed an incredibly hard punch, which caused him to become a little more cautious as he came barrelling forward to cause as much damage as possible.

Yeleussinov continued to find the mark with his punches and managed to control the Cuban's attacks extremely well.

Come the end of the fight the local boxer was given a clear 3-0 victory by judges.

Daniyar Yeleussinov was delighted with his win over Arisnoidys Despaigne which saw him lift the host nation's third gold medal of the day




Ireland's Jason Quigley was hoping to disappoint local fans as he faced off against Kazakhstan's Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in the middleweight division.

Things did not go quite to plan for Quigley, however, as he found himself knocked to the floor just 1min 36sec into the bout after a strong hook from his opponent.

Alimkhanuly dominated the fight from then off and was able to land countless hooks while keeping well out of the way of Quigley's blows.

Quigley looked to be making something of a comeback in the second round as he began to trade more and more blows with the home favourite.

But this resurgence must have taken the wind out of his sail, as he looked exhausted coming out for the third round and was picked off easily by the hard hitting Alimkhanuly.

The boxer from Kazakhstan took the bout in a clear victory and earned the host's fourth gold medal of the day.

In a day dominated by Cuba versus Kazakhstan bouts, the light heavyweight contest proved no different, as Julio Peraza looked to ebb the flow of Kazakh gold and take a victory over Adilbek Niyazymbetov.

He began this mission in particularly classy fashion as he danced around the ring with his hands by his sides, tempting Niyazymbetov in, before attempting to land a punishing blow.

Peraza soon learnt that his quick feet and agile frame were going to be put to the most extreme of tests here in the final and he was caught with a heavy blow at the end of the second as he was punished for leaning back when he was off balance.

The bout was neck and neck going into the final round with two of the judges having the contest down as a draw and the final judge only slightly favouring the Cuban.

But it was Peraza who came out on top as he managed to keep the crowd, and more importantly his opponent, quiet during the final round.

Adilbek Niyazymbetov was left wondering if his moment would ever come as he took another silver medal following his silvers at the Baku World Championships in 2011 and the London 2012 Olympic Games



The penultimate bout of the day saw Italy's Clemente Russo take on Russia's Evgeny Tishchenko in the heavyweight division.

The two boxers had met before, just before the London 2012 Olympics, with the larger Russian coming out on top in that encounter.

Russo was clearly looking to set the record straight as the bell rang for the start of the first round, and he landed some good body shots and hooks, while trying to steer clear of the tall Tishchenko responses.

Round two saw Russo land a big looping hook to Tishchenko's head and he continued to pile on the pressure.

Tishchenko began to find his range towards the end of the round and was certainly a bigger threat throughout the third round.

It was too little too late for him, however, and Russo came out on top with a 3-0 victory.

Another boxer from Kazakhstan made his way to the ring for the final encounter of the Championships as Ivan Dychko squared up against with Azerbaijan's Magomedrasul Medzhidov.

Dychko has been surprisingly light on his feet for a super heavyweight boxer and continued to surprise the audience with his dainty movement across the ring.

The home favourite was dominating the contest from the first round all the way through to the third, using his greater reach to land a selection of jabs on his smaller opponent.

Things changed quite significantly in the third, however.

Forty seconds into the final round Medzhidov, out of nowhere, threw a cannonball of a left, followed by a missile of a right at Dychko, slamming him to the canvas and silencing the arena.

The bewildered Dychko steadily got himself back to his feet, only to feel the full force of another of the Azerbaijani's blows throw him back to the floor.

The referee had seen enough by this point and called an end to the fight, leaving Dychko and his vast local support in utter disbelief.

Before claiming his title, Medzhidov, being the class act that he is, assisted his opponent to his corner in a show of splendid sportsmanship, which earned him the appreciative applause of the home crowd.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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