Day 5 of the 2013 AIBA World championships proved to be an exciting one all around with several unexpected results and interesting storiesas the Flyweights (52kg), Light Welterweights (64kg) and Heavyweights (91kg) continued in their push for the podium.
Main stories:
- Kazakhstan’s Merey Akshalov warmed up the crowd at the AIBA World Boxing Championships Almaty 2013 with a courageous display of boxing against the dangerous Josh Taylor of Scotland.
- Additionally, Shahriyor Akhmedov just introduced himself to the world of sport in emphatic fashion. The young boxer from Tajikistan put in what was without doubt the most exciting and brilliant performance so far in the AIBA World Boxing Championships Almaty 2013.
Bouts of the day
Merey Akshalov and Josh Taylor set the arena alight with their display at Light Welterweight. The intensity of the local crowd in supporting their boxer made the bout a very high pressured affair and the venue became an uncomfortable place for the Scotsman with drums banging and hoards chanting for the Kazakh boxer. Nonetheless, the Scot remained composed and as a result this became a very technical bout. The local man looked springy on his feet against the southpaw Taylor who impressed with his concentration despite the noise. Taylor landed some good jabs but the local athlete seemed to be getting the best of things. By round three, although the Scotsman was still in contention, it was clear that Akshalov was very much in the driving seat. Both athletes showed great respect for each other at the end as the bout was awarded to the local boxer.
Double Olympic bronze medallist Patrick Barnes also made an appearance today against Milos Baltic of Serbia at Flyweight. Barnes took to the centre of the ring and traded with his young Serbian opponent. His distancing was a little more precise and he was able to avoid his opponent’s shots. He began a determined and solid onslaught and took the bout to progress to the next round where he will face Kenya’s Simon Nzioki (who today defeated England’s Charlie Edwards). “I felt strong and I think it came down to skill in the end”, said Barnes. “It felt strange though as that was the first time ever I’ve fought without a head guard. I had a nose injury we had to protect so we left it on for sparring too. I need to get a few rounds under my belt now so that I’m used to it”.
Shahriyor Akhmedov from Tajikistan took on World Series of Boxing (WSB) veteran Vincenzo Picardi at Flyweight. On Day One of the tournament, we spotted Akhmedov and awarded him the bout of the session already. The Tajik boxer stunned us even further today by looking absolutely fantastic in his bout against the experienced Dolce & Gabbana Italia Thunder boxer. His mobility was first class; he is deceivingly strong for his slight frame and possesses phenomenal hand speed and accuracy. The most impressive thing about his performance however, was the distance he could cover to reach his opponent. It was like watching a Michael Jordan and Usain Bolt hybrid with boxing gloves. His balance was excellent and on numerous times, when he would reposition himself to avoid a punch, the Italian would go crashing to the canvas simply owing to this sudden displacement. It wasn’t that Picardi was bad either; Akhmedov just simply revealed himself to be an astonishing prospect who tore the WSB veteran apart literally without breaking a sweat. It was an absolute masterclass.
WSB boxers of the session
Heavyweight Dolce & Gabbana Italia Thunder superstar Clemente Russo squared up to Levan Guledani of Georgia and was looking very confident for the last bout in Ring B of this afternoon session. The former World Champion and double Olympic Silver medallist initially probed with is jab but his Georgian opponent had a tight defence. Clemente began to drop his guard to encourage his opponent to open up. Once this happened, we really had a fight on our hands with the young Georgian totally un-phased by the legend he was facing. Russo took the bout after one of his typical battles. “It was difficult”, admitted the Italian. “I always find the first one difficult. I’ve been here for seven days and all I can think about is this first fight. So there is lots of pressure. This wasn’t a beautiful fight but hopefully on Monday I will produce my best stuff. The Georgian was a strong fighter and I have the Danish boxer next. He is very fast and technical so it should be good”.
Erislandy Savon of Cuba meanwhile was scheduled to box the last bout in Ring A, though it was running slightly behind Ring B at that stage. With Russo already brawling with Guledani, Savon started making his way into the arena. However there was barely the time to jot the fighters’ names down when Savon dropped his opponent Jinho Heo of Korea with an epic left hook that floored the Korean boxer in less than thirty seconds for a TKO victory. “I feel good about going into the next one without having wasted any energy”, said the Cuban. Thus it was that Savon turned up to work and left early, while Russo was still battling on…
Andrew Selby of Wales took on highly rated American boxer Malik Jackson to open the day’s boxing at Flyweight. Jackson was very impressive and caused Selby all sorts of troubles. He pursued the former British Lionheart around the ring, not allowing him to engage in his usual flamboyant style. In the third, the American southpaw landed a heavy left which caused a gasp in the Kazakh crowd. Selby won however, doing enough damage to out-point the American though he was displeased with his performance. “It didn’t go too well”, said the Welshman. “I had to wait for a while before I could box as I had a bye in the first round, so there was a bit of ring rust there. I’ve got a Cuban next so I’m going to have to pick it up now. I can do better, but the American is a good boxer to be fair to him, so at least I got the win and that bout is out of the way”.
Ones to watch
Brazilian Light Welterweight Everton Lopes looks like he will be capable of causing anyone difficulties this year. Fighting in an extreme southpaw stance with low hands and using unpredictable angles, he cruised to a stylish victory of Louis Colin of Mauritius. Stay tuned.
Germany’s Artem Harutynyan was also back in action today against Abdel Malik Ladjali of France. The Frenchman had the reach advantage and put it to good use, however the ever forceful German kept up the pressure and he took a close bout 3:0 (29/28 from all three judges). “It was really exciting and I personally really enjoyed it. I saw that he was very ambitious and he fought hard until the end. That is why I worked hard from the first bell until the last one. That’s how it’s meant to be!”
Canada’s Yves Ulysse again impressed at Light Welterweight. Jointly with Butdee and Akhmedov, he was responsible for today’s wow factor. In this case, the fleet-footed Canadian was able to dominate the very dangerous Juan Romero of the Mexico Guerreros. Well aware of Romero’s hooks, the Canadian circled and moved continuously to avoid danger whilst seemingly landing his own blows at will. By the second round it was becoming clear that Romero was behind, so he had to chase the victory. This only played into the Canadian’s strategy, and towards the end of round three Ulysse was actually resisting the urge to smile in the ring. “I feel good”, said the grinning boxer after the bout. “I stepped up my game because that was a brutal match. It was a spicy fight with a good opponent who has helped me improve for the next fight. The foot work was important because when you are fighting with a bullying kind of boxer, you don’t want to exchange with him. Romero has a good left hook and body shot and I needed to stay out of the range of those”.
Surprises of the session
Carlos Adames of the Dominican Republic won a victory over the very talented American boxer Jose Alday Jr that caused something of an editorial rethink as we had half expected to include Alday Jr in the ones to watch section. Adames looked both agile and aggressive in the ring. It will be interesting to see if he can capitalise on this performance going forward.
We had two talking points for this section today as two of Mexico Guerreros’ leading boxers made early departures (see below for the second of these). Elias Emigdio, one of the leading lights of both the Guerreros and national teams exited early to Chatchai Butdee of Thailand at Flyweight. This bout was an excellent one but, in further testimony to Akhmedov (above), it was difficult to focus on it as the Tajikistani boxer was just so compelling to watch. Nonetheless tearing our eyes away from the newly uncovered prodigy and forcing them over to the other ring was still worthwhile as we witnessed a high octane bout with a desperate Emigdio urgently hunting his man down with the Thai athlete more than matching his efforts in a bid to stay ahead. Across both rings this was easily the most exciting period of the tournament so far (at least for neutrals).
Quotes of the session
“I feel pleased, it was a job well done” – Erislandy Savon (Cuba) is somewhat understated about his 28 second TKO
“…But sometimes you don’t want to see punches coming at you!” – Patrick Barnes (Ireland) jokes in a discussion on boxers’ improved visibility without a head guard
“The key is never stand directly in front of his face; move left or move right, but move! It’s like when you are driving a car, there is always a blind spot, you need to move so that you don’t get hit from that direction” – Canada’s Yves Ulysse on the philosophy of evasion.
Fact/Stat of the day
Kazakhstan is the world’s largest land locked country, and Almaty was the capital city until 1997, (it is now Astana). Despite this, the city is still the country’s commercial and cultural hub.
