In another great afternoon of boxing at the 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the Lightweights (60kg) and Light Welterweights (64kg) took to the ring for their first preliminary bouts.
Bout of the session
Germany’s Artem Harutyunyan took on Sweden’s Clarence Bojang at Light Welterweight in what was comfortably the best bout of the session and possibly the best so far in this Championships. The German, who is rumored to be joining his brother Robert this year with the WSB German Eagles, looked like he was on a mission from the opening bell. But his Swedish opponent had great foot work and fantastic hand speed which he used to stay out of trouble and pick off the German on the way in.
This made for a highly engaging encounter. The Swede looked in serious trouble at one point half way through the first, when the WSB boxer had him pinned to the ropes but through some incredible evasion under pressure he got himself out of trouble. Harutyunyan seemed to have the advantage in the power stakes and he was relentless in pushing forwards.
Predominantly a southpaw, Bojang’s willingness to switch when necessary made him very mobile in the ring which kept him out of trouble. In the end, Harutyunyan came out with a split decision. Though the Swede will probably lament the tough draw, he could almost certainly have gone further with another opponent. “The first fight is always a difficult one, you need a little while to get into it”, said Harutyunyan.
“I fought my opponent in the first round of the European Championships as well and he is a tough guy. I have a lot of respect for him. Now I’m going to try to relax and take my mind off boxing and hang out with the team”.
One to watch
Sean McComb of Ireland looks like a boxer to watch this year. He dropped his opponent Almog Briga of Israel in just twenty seconds into his opening round. The Israeli got up and returned fire extremely well, however scoring with heavy looking overhand lefts. The Irish boxer began to work out how to avoid these and scored a second knockdown with an uppercut in the third with just one second left on the clock to take the victory. “He hit very hard over the top, but in between rounds, my coach said to start circling more rather than just stepping back and that’s when I started avoiding them. I was a lot more comfortable then”.
Quote of the session
“In the last round he walked onto a short uppercut. Though I have to admit that he was off balance when I clipped him and he was probably going over anyway” – Exceptional honesty from Sean McComb (IRL)
Fact of the day
Kenneth Egan, the celebrated Irish boxer who took a silver medal in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has come to the World Championships, but for the first time in ten years he is not here as an athlete. Rather he is now working as a boxing journalist for RTÉ and the Irish Sports Council.
