In Tokyo, the Olympic boxing tournament is gradually coming to an end. By Thursday, the champions in three weight categories for men and women, as well as participants in the finals in five divisions, have already been determined. And within the framework of the next competitive day, two Russian athletes could join the company as the first and the second. Albert Batyrgaziev fought for gold in the featherweight division, and Gleb Bakshi played in the semifinals of the middle category.

The first to enter the Olympic ring was the reigning world champion Bakshi, who had a difficult revenge with Gebert Souza. Previously, the boxers have already met with each other and also at the semi-final stage, however, not the Games, but the 2019 World Championship. Then the Russian won, albeit by a split decision (4: 1), but he looked more than convincing. Filigree footwork allowed him to instantly close the distance and drive the Brazilian into uncomfortable positions, and the movement of the body allowed him to avoid the opponent's counterattacks. Coupled with branded sweeping blows, this became the key to triumph in Yekaterinburg, and there was every reason to believe that it would help now.

But in two years, Sousa has made significant progress. First of all, this concerns movement around the ring and work with the front hand. If then he could not keep Bakshi at a distance and not allow himself to be pinched by the ropes, then this time everything turned out almost perfect. Gleb continued to go forward in a fairly straightforward manner and regularly ran into either a jab or Gebert's combination. The Russian himself threw out a lot and still relied on powerful hooks, but the impression was that in this aspect the Brazilian, if he loses, is not as catastrophic as at the World Cup.

In the first two rounds, Bakshi was never able to find the clues to Souza's counter-attacking pattern. And largely due to the fact that this time he worked much worse both with his legs and with his body. For a long time he could not find his distance: attempts to break through to the close were stopped by the skillful maneuvers of the opponent, and on the middle one he found himself under a hail of jabs and direct punches. This continued for the first two rounds: Gleb constantly pressed and pushed forward, but there was not enough imagination, no timely deviations, no accurate hits.

In this regard, after six minutes of the fight, Bakshi's position was critical. On the cards of three judges, he was inferior by two points (18:20), which reduced his chances of winning to a minimum. In the final round, he had to either knock out Souza or knock him down and hope that the referees would pay attention to this and give him a segment with a score of 10: 8. But it was not possible to fix something, and the Brazilian began to "knit" in a clinch even more often. He has repeatedly resorted to this technique before, but knowing the assessments, he began to emphasize this.

As a result, Gleb was never able to break into the enemy's defense and achieve victory even in the third round taken separately. Most of the judges sided with Gebert and allowed him to take more than convincing revenge for the defeat at the planetary championship. Souza won 4: 1 and reached the final, where he will meet with the 2017 world champion Alexander Khizhnyak, and Bakshi is forced to settle for bronze.

“While there are no emotions, you need to get to the locker room, cool down and think about it.

I am glad to be at the Games, I felt what a real Olympic family is.

As for the fight, I can't say anything yet, something worked out, something - no ... Let's be honest, I am one of the leaders in this weight category, so it is natural that they are tuned in to me.

Souza showed himself well, showed me my mistakes, for which many thanks to him.

Many noticed that I had a difficult draw, perhaps I could not cope with emotions, "Bakshi quoted TASS as saying.

  • Boxers Gleb Bakshi and Herbert Souza

  • RIA News

  • © Ramil Sitdikov

A couple of minutes later, featherweight Albert Batyrgaziev appeared in the ring. Unlike his compatriot, he managed to reach the final and was one step away from Olympic gold. The promising American Duke Ragan could prevent him from becoming a champion, as well as a Russian who already has experience of performing in professionals. The Cincinnati native not only managed to win four victories (one of them was over former UFC title contender John Moraga), but also signed a contract with one of the largest promotion companies Top Rank, which speaks of the level of expectations associated with him.

Batyrgaziev's track record was no less impressive, at least in professionals. Yes, he had one less fight, but he managed to win the WBA Asia featherweight title. And unlike Ragan, who brought the case to the decision of the judges three times, he won all the victories ahead of schedule. But in amateur boxing he could not boast of success. If Duke had a silver medal at the 2017 World Cup in Hamburg, Albert's best achievement was reaching the quarterfinals in 2019.

However, in Tokyo, this difference was absolutely not felt. Batyrgaziev immediately rushed forward and began to shower Regan's head with combinations, for which he was clearly not ready. In height, he surpassed his opponent by only two centimeters, but in the course of this fight one might get the impression that the difference was noticeably greater. Albert attacked well both from a distance and in close combat. Separately, it is worth noting how much more powerful his blows looked. If the Russian invested in every straight and lateral, then the American rather meant attempts, which also could not be ignored by the judges.

As a result, four representatives of the jury at once gave the first round to Batyrgaziev, allowing him to interrupt the unsuccessful series. In the two previous fights, he was invariably inferior in the opening, after which he was forced to recoup. Perhaps this encouraged Albert even more, who spent the second three minutes in one breath, driving Duke around the ring and driving in one heavy two after another.

Before the final round, the picture was similar to the one that developed in the duel between Bakshi and Souza. Batyrgaziev led three judges on the cards and could calmly concentrate on defense. He did not do that and continued to trade with Ragan, who had increased in aggression, and not to say that he looked clearly weaker. Duke realized that the gold medal was slipping away, went ahead, and hit it well several times. Considering the fact that fatigue fell on the Russian, at times it really became exciting for him. But this spurt of the American did not lead to serious consequences.

Four out of five judges gave Ragan the final three minutes, which allowed him to avoid a major defeat, but the general state of affairs did not change. Batyrgaziev won 3: 2 and was the first Russian fighter to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. And this is symbolic, because he also qualified for the Games earlier than his compatriots.

“My dream was only one - to go to the Olympic Games and return with a gold medal: to continue the work of my older comrades Evgeny Mikhailovich Makarenko and Alexander Maletin. I am very glad that I managed to keep my word, given first of all to myself. I have always said that my city deserves an Olympic gold medal. I am glad that I managed to meet all expectations. The Olympic medal is another medal in my piggy bank: there was definitely no such medal. I will try to increase the number of awards. I'm not going to stop there. We will continue to please with victories. I am glad that people watch boxing - it unites ", - quotes the words of Batyrgaziev" Championship ".