STILL TO COME: Pooja Rani (India) vs. Li Qian (China)
Lauren Price becomes the fourth member of the Great Britain Olympic boxing team to advance to the medal round of the Tokyo Olympics.
The number-one seed at middleweight, Price is now set to appear in the semifinals following a three-round shutout of Panama's Atheyna Bylon. Scores were 30-26, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26 and 29-27.
Bylon entered her second Olympics competition and was matched with an opponent she already beat. The two met seven years ago as welterweights in the 2014 World Amateur Championship tournament, with Bylon winning their quarterfinal bout en route to claiming top honors.
Price has come a long way since then, emerging as one of the best middleweights in the world. She showed that much on Saturday at Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo, outboxing the taller Bylon every step of the way en route to the landslide win.
With the win, Price anchors a Great Britain women's team that is now 8-1 in Tokyo, with the 11-person team 16-3 overall and guaranteed at least four medals. Price joins Karriss Artingstall among the British women who will come with hardware.
The semifinal round provides Price with the chance to avenge another previous loss. Awaiting her on the other side of the bracket is Netherlands' Nouchka Fontija, the 2016 Olympic Silver medalist who prevailed in a points win (30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Canada's Tammara Thibeault.
Fontijn has proven to a menace to middleweights around the world, particularly to those from Great Britain. Among her greatest hits are a clean win over Price in the 2018 World Amateur Championships semifinals and having ousted Savannah Marshall in the second round of the 2016 Rio Olympics en route to a silver medal.
The only fighter who Fontijn has yet to figure out no longer boxes in the amateur ranks—Claressa Shields, who trumped the Dutch boxer en route to her second Gold medal in 2016.
Price-Fontijn will take place August 6. The winner will move on to the Gold medal round on August 8, the final day of Olympic competition.
Zenfira Magomedalieva (ROC) was far too much for Rady Gramane (Mozambique) to handle, taking a decision win to advance to the semifinal round.
Scores were in favor of Magomedalieva, who arrived at this point following a convincing win over USA's Naomi Graham in the opening round. The win was the only one lodged by the four women among the ROC athletes, with Magomedalieva doing all of the heavy lifting for the squad.
The win by Magomedalieva gives the ROC athletes a guaranteed four medals in Tokyo, with three men from the squad having already advanced to the semifinals. ROC as a team is 13-3, second only to Great Britain in total wins.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox