A marathon third day of boxing at the World Boxing Championships saw some of the biggest names in the draw enter the tournament and delivered a few surprises across two sessions of top-class action.
In a day which featured 68 bouts, one of the most eagerly awaited appearances of the day came in the evening session when Paris 2024 gold medallist, Abdumalik Khalolov, made his bow in the men’s lightweight (M60kg) division.
The Uzbek superstar had been in imperious in winning gold in Paris and showed his full range of skills as he eased to unanimous victory over Mehmethan Cinar of Turkey.
He was one of five Uzbek boxers to secure wins on the day as Feruza Kazakova (W51kg), Shavkatjion Boltaev (M70kg) Silora Turdibekova (W60kg) and Olinoy Sotimboeva (W80kg) all maintained the ominously impressive form of the country that finished top of the medal at Paris 2024.
Khalolov’s lightweight division is one of the most exciting categories in the competition and another boxer to make his debut in the competition was Luiz Gabriel Oliveira. The Brazilian has shone in this year’s World Boxing Cup series and took his unbeaten streak to 15 bouts since Paris 2024, as he outpointed Ramon Ordonez of the USA.
He had been preceded in Ring B by Sunniva Hofstad who is the only boxer, male or female, to win gold in all three World Boxing Cup events this year. And the talented Norwegian number two seed continued her impressive form in the middleweight category (W75kg) as she secured a unanimous victory over Italy’s Melissa Gemini to set-up a quarter-final with Ireland’s Aiofe O’Rourke, who defeated Monika Langerova of Czechia in her round of 16 contest.
Earlier in the day, the afternoon session delivered a couple of surprises as India’s Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist, Lovlina Borgohain, lost to 5-0 to Türkiye’s Busra Isildar at middleweight (W75kg), while in the men’s light-middleweight (M70kg) division, Germany’s Paris Olympian, Magomed Scachidov, had no answer to a very impressive performance by Spain’s Frank Martinez.
He was followed into the ring by the hometown favourite, Odel Kamara (M70kg) of England. The local hero was clearly inspired by a noisy and pumped-up crowd as he delivered a barnstorming performance on his debut in the competition and issued three standing counts across three rounds in a dominant victory over Kosovo’s Shpetim Bajoku.
Speaking in the mixed zone after his bout, Kamara said: “I did not expect that [atmosphere]. I knew I was going to have loads of people there, but that was crazy. And they all showed so much love. Every two seconds I just heard “Odel! Odel!” and it made me just want to throw a haymaker. But I kept it calm and relaxed and I did my job.”
Tomorrow sees 64 bouts take place across the afternoon (11:00 GMT) and evening sessions (18:00 GMT).
RESULTS:
All of today’s results are available at: https://www.worldboxingliverpool.com/competition-documents.
INFORMATION:
The daily schedule, official draw and all results and additional information can be found on the event’s official website: https://www.worldboxingliverpool.com/competition-documents.
WATCH:
The World Boxing Championships 2025 is being livestreamed on World Boxing’s website via Eurovision Sport (available in selected territories) at https://worldboxing.org/watch-the-world-boxing-championships/.
LIVE SCORING:
Fans can stay up to date with all of the action in every session of boxing with live scoring at https://www.worldboxingliverpool.com/live-schedule-results
PHOTOS:
A free photo gallery of images from every session is available. Images can be downloaded directly for free – https://www.flickr.com/photos/203447206@N02/albums
World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels: