LIVERPOOL, England – The World Boxing Championships seemed to catch fire Saturday at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England.

A huge home crowd had gathered early on to witness England’s Odel Kamara’s first contest of the tournament. The local lad’s face had been pictured across the city and he was even called to the Sky Sports Studio to promote the event. There were big expectations from the home crowd that had gathered, and the 21 year old Kamara certainly delivered.

He faced Kosovo’s Shpetim Bajoku in the Men’s 70kg category and dominated from the very first second. Early on Kamara threw a beautiful right handed counter that dropped Bajoku, but strangely it wasn’t ruled a knockdown. It mattered little as moments later a sharp jab from Kamara registered the first standing count of the contest. Kamara would go on to register a further two counts during the bout, winning by a landslide unanimous decision.

The 70kg category continued to draw eyes, Spain’s Frank Martinez Bernad was also very impressive during his unanimous decision victory over Germany’s Magomed Sultanovic Schachidov. The slick southpaw danced around the ring, slipping and sliding, while countering well with both hands. India’s Hitesh Hitesh came into the tournament as one of the favorites at 70kg, but was dumped out by the Netherlands’ Fin Bos. The bout was anyone's game after two completed rounds but a huge right hand from Bos dropped Hitesh midway through the third, securing a 4-1 split-decision victory.

2021 World Championship gold medalist and 2020 Olympian Sewonrets Okazawa also made a winning start at 70kg, but was dropped in the first against Czech Republic’s Kelvin Soquessa. Jordan’s Zeyad Eashash also looked a force at 70kg, beating USA’s Carlos Flowers with relative ease. The USA’s bad day got worse when Ramon Ordonez was beaten by the experienced Brazilian Luiz Gabriel De Oliveira by unanimous decision. Canada’s Keoma-Ali Al-Ahmadieh also put in a very impressive display, dropping Jordan’s Mohammad Abu Jajeh on his way to a unanimous decision win.Full results from World Championships Day 3: https://www.worldboxingliverpool.com/competition-documents