The second part of the semi-finals featuring 20 exciting male bouts took place at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Kielce, Poland. Japan’s Reito Tsutsumi is a fantastic boxer who amazed all of the experts today and progressed to the finals.

Russia delivered five men’s finalists in Kielce, where Kazakhstan enjoyed an impressive tournament as well by securing four places in the finals. Ukraine, Uzbekistan, India, Poland, Japan, Cuba, Armenia and Montenegro were among the countries who had one finalist. All of the men’s weight categories, from the light flyweight (49kg) up to the super heavyweight (+91kg), competed on the eighth day of boxing.

Badalian and Muzafarov are the first men’s finalists in Kielce

Russia’s Robert Badalian is the defending EUBC European Youth Champion, yet he had a hard time in the preliminary rounds with his Kyrgyz and Thai rivals. The Russian light flyweight (49kg) boxer employed same strategy he showed throughout AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships and was a hard target for Azerbaijan’s Nijat Huseynov in the first round. Badalian received punches in the second round but in the third, he managed to get back on track by keeping his distance, and secured his place in the final with Kazakhstan’s Sanzhar Tashkenbay.

Uzbekistan’s Shakhzod Muzafarov stormed into the boxing world in April 2019 when he won the Pavlyukov Youth Memorial Tournament in Anapa. The Uzbek boxer bagged a silver medal in the 2020 Elite National Championships were he proved to be too experienced for Ukraine’s newcomer, Ruslan Tsykalo. Muzafarov was keeping the perfect fighting distance in the first round, and after those three minutes he dominated the second one with his fabulous footwork. Muzafarov proved to be a boxer of a a different league, and he is the strong favorite in the final bout against Russia’s Evgenii Zhorov who had a lucky match over Mongolia’s Enkhzorigt Sukhbat in the second semi-final of the flyweight (52kg).

Kazakhstan celebrates its four men’s finalists

Kazakhstan delegated five men’s semi-finalists at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships, and their boxers enjoyed a good start in the evening session. Sanzhar Tashkenbay was not the favorite in the light flyweight (49kg) but thanks to his hard work, he progressed to the finals. The newcomer in the youth national team eliminated India’s ASBC Asian Junior Champion Bishwamitra Chongtham by making a better use of his range.

Kazakhstan’s Yerbolat Sabyr’s tactic was based on his strength in the semi-finals of the bantamweight (56kg) against Russia’s EUBC European Youth Champion Aleksey Shendrik. The Russian showed a decent footwork but Sabyr kept hitting him with tough punches, so the Kazakh advanced to the finals. His will face Yelnur Suyunbay in the lightweight (60kg) final bout, who had 15 cm height advantage against Colombia’s Jhon Elin Orobio and controlled the bout from the first seconds. Sabyrzhan Akkalykov became Kazakhstan’s fourth finalist in Kielce after beating India’s Ankit Narwal at the light welterweight (64kg).

Reito Tsutsumi is the star of the men’s competition

Japan’s sensation Reito Tsutsumi took on boxing at the age of 9 in Chiba Prefecture and followed his brother’s footsteps. His elder brother, Hayato, claimed a gold medal at the 2016 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in St. Petersburg, and now he is a member of the elite national team.

Reito was deemed as an even bigger talent, and after he joined the international events, he won the Puerto Princesa 2017 ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships, the Fujairah 2019 ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championships and dominated all of his international and national contests in the past five years.

The promising Japanese star faced the European Champion boxer, Radoslav Rosenov of Bulgaria in the semi-finals of the lightweight (60kg). His Bulgarian opponent is a fantastic boxer, but on that he had no real chance of winning the bout. Tsutsumi did not underestimate his Bulgarian opponent, so he started the contest slowly but in the middle of the first round, he took full control.

Tsutsumi was highly confident in the second round and following his tough shots, the referee counted the Bulgarian talent. The Japanese boxer landed hard jabs and hooks in the third round and won the contest by a large margin of differences.

“I knew my opponent had had strong results in the past, but we had the strategy against him here in Kielce. I hold no secrets, I just believe in hard work and I come from a boxing family. I am really looking forward to the finals,” said Tsutsumi following his world class performance in the semi-finals.

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