LIVERPOOL, England – Monday marked another successful day at the World Boxing Championships at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
It was certainly a day to be an England fan, four out of the five boxers competing in Day 5 booked themselves a quarter-final slot. Perhaps the pick of the punch came in the Men’s 60kg category, where Will Hewitt notched the upset of the tournament so far with a win over 2024 Olympic silver medalist Munarbek Siitbek Uulu of Kyrgyzstan. Hewitt was a big underdog going into the contest but managed to nick a split decision victory by the finest of margins.
The standout performance for Team England was again from Liverpool’s own Odel Kamara competing in the Men’s 70kg category. Kamara had the best possible start, dropping Canada’s Kuwardeep Manu in the first three seconds of the opener. He then cruised to victory, snapping out his razor sharp jab and countering Manu with his right hand at will. He will be extremely hard to beat in front of his roaring home crowd. Another local lad who secured a spot in the quarters was Callum Makin in the Men’s 75kg category. Makin faced a tough Polish fighter and with the contest level at two judges apiece and one even, the Liverpudlian needed to win the third big to secure the fifth judge’s scorecard. Makin did exactly that, and his home fans that included Paul, Stephen and Callum Smith erupted.
The Men’s 70kg category again continued to deliver, with Uzbekistan’s Shavkatjon Boltaev picking up a win over Spain’s Frank Martinez in a thriller. Martinez was cruising after a dominant opener, but midway into the second Boltaev landed a peach of an overhand right on the chin of the Spaniard and he fell to his knees in a heap. Martinez recovered well and saw out the round on the back foot. With the scores level it was all on the third and final round. Martinez was boxing beautifully on the backfoot, countering Boltaev before spinning off, but with seconds to go he sunk in a body shot that was ruled low by the referee. This was not the first time he had been warned during the bout for shots below the belt and a point was deducted. The fight went to the scorecards and the low blow was ultimately the deciding factor, giving Boltaev the win by the finest of margins.
England’s super heavyweight (+90kg) Damar Thomas also continued his good start to the tournament with another unanimous decision win, this time over Brazil’s Joel Ramos Da Silva. The Englishman has set up a mouthwatering quarter-final clash against Cuba’s two-time Olympic gold medalist Julio Cesar La Cruz with his win. Another of England’s bright sparks was Emily Asquith who booked herself a spot in the last eight with a big win over Ukraine's Iryna Lutsak in the 80kg category. Sacha Hickey also picked up her second win of the tournament for England against India’s Neeraj Phogat in the Women’s 65kg category. It wasn’t to be for England’s Lauren Mackie who was defeated in the Women’s 54kg category by Korea’s Aeji Im.
The USA had a mixed day in the championships with their two so-called ‘big men’ competing. First up was Malachi Georges competing in the Men’s 90kg category against Hungary’s Levente Hunor Kiss. Georges used his razor sharp jab to ease through the first and then exploded to life midway into the second. The American threw a lightning quick left hand to the liver of Kiss and he sank to his knees, where he remained for the full 10 count. Unfortunately for Team USA super heavyweight Kelvin Watts was knocked out of the tournament at the Round of 16 stage by China’s Danabieke Bayikewuzi. Watts has only been boxing for just two years and was beaten by the much more experienced Bayikewuzi by unanimous decision. However, the future is bright for the USA super heavyweight and the experience at a major tournament will bring Watts on leaps and bounds.
Full results from Day 5: