World Championships

A thrilling final day of action at the World Boxing Championships 2025 in Liverpool saw Kazakhstan’s Aibek Oralbay defeat Jahhongir Zokirov of Uzbekistan in the 520^th and final bout of the competition to win the super-heavyweight (M90kg+) gold medal and ensure his country topped the final medal table with seven golds, one silver and two bronze.

Although Uzbekistan secured a higher medal count with 11, it won fewer golds and had to settle for second place in the medal table, with six golds, two silver and three bronze.

After 10 days of high-class competition at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, the final day evolved into a shoot-out between the two Asian superpowers which, remarkably, won every one of the men’s categories between them.

It proved to be a superb closing day for Kazakhstan which won seven of the eight finals its boxers contested, the only reverse coming in the first bout of the day when Nazym Kyzaibay lost to India’s Minakshi Minakshi at light-flyweight (W48kg).

The final outcome at the top of the medal table hinged on two direct match-ups between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which came out on top in both.

The women’s welterweight (W65kg) final between Navbakhor Khamidova of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan’s Aida Abikeyeva was one of the best bouts of the day and after two hard fought rounds between, the Uzbek seemed to have the upper hand.  However, the combination of a point off from the referee and terrific onslaught by Abikeyeva saw the Kazak fight back to win 3-0 on the judges’ scorecards. It was a similar story in the last bout of the night where Oralbay won the final round on four judges’ cards to secure the narrowest of 3-2 victories.

Speaking via an interpreter in the mixed zone after her welterweight victory, Abikeyev said: “Today is the final. I set a personal goal before Liverpool to become a two-time world champion. Thank God, I reached it. This is the first one. This is for my grandfather. Thanks for the support, Kazakhstan.”

Other countries which won gold medals on the day included India, Chinese Taipei, Brazil and Ireland – all of them coming in the women’s categories.

The day began with nine bouts in the afternoon session which saw victories for Kazakhstan’s Sanzhar Tashkenbay at flyweight (M50kg) and Makhmud Sabrykhan at bantamweight (M55kg), while Uzbekistan enjoyed success with wins for welterweight (65kg) Asadkhuja Muydinkhjaev, light-heavyweight Javokhir Ummataliev and heavyweight (W90kg) Turabek Khabibullaev.

The pick of the bouts was the women’s lightweight final between Brazil’s Rebecca De Lima Santos and Aneta Rygielska of Poland.  The contest could have gone either way and hinged on a strong second round from the Brazilian, which managed to give her a big enough lead to weather a final round onslaught from the Pole and edge the result 3-2.

Another boxer to impress was Ireland’s Aoife O’Rourke, who took control of her middleweight final from first bell and was rarely troubled on route to a 5-0 win over Busra Isildar of Turkey.

O’Rourke said: “I feel incredible, it hasn’t even sunk in yet. Just the whole buzz and the atmosphere here is just, I’m overwhelmed with excitement, enjoyment, everything. It’s an amazing feeling and long may it last.”

The evening session featured nine more finals which were dominated by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The men’s lightweight final had all the makings of a classic as Brazil’s Luis De Oliveira clashed with Paris 2024 gold medallist Abdumalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan, however it was cut short when an accidental clash of heads led the ringside Doctor to halt the contest.  It went to the judges’ who had Khalokov leading on every card and meant he has now won gold at both at the Olympic Games and the World Boxing Championships, without dropping a round.

For the home nation, it proved to be a frustrating final session as cruiserweight Teagn Stott and light-heavyweight, Emily Asquith, both lost their finals, however the overall competition has been a major success for the hosts that delivered a fantastic Championships in Liverpool and saw English boxers win five medals, including two for hometown boxers, Callum Makin and Odel Kamara, who lit up the tournament.

The President of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, said: “We could not have wished for a better place to host our inaugural World Boxing Championships and I would like to thank the Local Organising Committee and all of the event partners, GB Boxing, England Boxing, Liverpool City Council, UK Sport and the National Lottery for delivering a fantastic event. 

“All of the feedback I have heard from boxers, coaches and officials this week has been very positive and everyone has been very happy with the organisation, staging and delivery of the event.  It has been a festival of world class boxing and has set a very high standard for all future World Boxing events and championships.”

A full list of the winners from the final two days of action is:

Weight Class	Gold	Silver
Women
48kg	Minakshi Minakshi (IND)	Nazym Kyzaibay (KAZ)
51kg	Alua Balkibekova (KAZ)	Buse Naz Cakiroglu (TUR)
54kg	Hsiao-Wen Huang (TPE)	Yoseline Perez (USA)
	Jaismine Jaismine (IND)	Julia Szeremeta (POL)
60kg	Ebeca De Lima Santos (BRA)	Aneta Rygielska (KAZ)
65kg	Aida Abikeyeva (KAZ)	Navbakhor Khamidova (UZB)
70kg	Natalya Bogdovana (KAZ)	Lekeisha Pergoliti (ITA)
75kg	Aoife O’Rourke (IRE)	Busra Isildar (TUR)
80kg	Eseta Flint (AUS)	Emily Asquith (ENG)
80kg+	Agata Kaczmarska (POL)	Nupur Nupur (IND)
Men
50kg	Sanzhar Tashkenbay (KAZ)	Battulga Aldarkhishig (MGL)
55kg	Makhmud Sabrykhan (KAZ)	Rafael Lozano Serrano (ESP)
60kg	Abdumalik Khalokov (UZB)	Luis De Oliveira (BRA)
65kg	Asadkhuja Muydinkhjaev (UZB)	Yuri Falcao (BRA)
70kg	Torekhan Sabryrkhan (KAZ)	Sewonrets Okazawa (JPN)
75kg	Fazliddin Erkinboev (UZB)	Rami Kiwan (BUL)
80kg	Javokhir Ummataliev (UZB)	Yojerlin Cesar (FRA)
85kg	Akmaijon Isroiliv (UZB)	Teagn Stott (ENG)
90kg	Turabek Khabibullaev (UZB)	Isaisas Filho (BRA)
90kg+	Aibek Oralbay (KAZ)	Jakhongir Zokirov (UZB)

The final medal table can be viewed HERE.

RESULTS:

All of today’s results are available at: https://www.worldboxingliverpool.com/competition-documents. 

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

SOCIAL MEDIA:

World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels:

• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/officialworldboxing/
• X – https://x.com/RealWorldBoxing
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWorldBoxing

INFORMATION:

The 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 was livestreamed on World Boxing’s website via Eurovision Sport (available in selected territories). Bouts can be watched back at https://worldboxing.org/watch-the-world-boxing-championships/.

The World Boxing Championships 2025 was organised and delivered by a Local Organising Committee made up of a range of partners that includes GB Boxing, England Boxing, Liverpool City Council and the M&S Bank Arena, with the support of the National Lottery and UK Sport. Event partners are Sting, Nike Boxing, Brabners, Queensberry Promotions, Movember, the Liverpool Bid Company and Visit Liverpool.

Fazliddin Erkinboev of Uzbekistan and Jaismine Jaismine of India and became the first male and female boxers to win gold medals at the World Boxing Championships 2025 in an action-packed penultimate night at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Jaismine was first to strike gold as she defeated Poland’s number one seed Julia Szeremeta in a high-class featherweight (W57kg) final. 

Erkinboev followed soon after as he also defeated the number one seed in his weight class, Rami Kiwan of Bulgaria, to secure the men’s middleweight (W75kg) crown.

Following the final bout of the evening, the pair were joined by Poland’s Agata Kaczmarska who defeated Nupur Nupur of India in the women’s heavyweight (W80kg) final.

Speaking in the mixed zone, after becoming the first ever World Boxing Champion, Jaismine said: “I really feel very good. This is my first ever medal and also, I become a world champion, so it’s a great feeling for me. All I can do is that my only motive is that I have to make my country proud.

“And because of our coaches, because of our federation and because of our supporting staff, that’s why I win today.”

The three finals concluded an evening session which started with 10 semi-finals in the women’s flyweight (W51kg), light-middleweight (W70kg) and light-heavyweight (W80kg+) weight classes and the men’s light-middleweight (M70kg) and cruiserweight (M85kg) categories.

First up at flyweight was the number one seed Buse Naz Cakiroglu who has been one of most consistent boxers in the competition.  And the Turk did not disappoint as she secured a 4-1 victory over Feruza Kazakova of Uzbekistan to set-up a final against Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan.

At light-middleweight Torekhan Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan overcame a sustained onslaught from England’s Odel Kamara to edge a 4-1 victory, much to the disappointment of the home crowd. 

Kamara started strongly and seemed to be connecting frequently in the second round, but the judges’ saw it differently scored both the second and third in favour of the Kazak who will box Japan’s Sewonrets Okazawa in tomorrow’s final.

Sadly, for the home nation, the women’s light-middleweight semi, which featured another England versus Kazakhstan match-up followed a similar pattern.  England’s Chantelle Reid started the better of the two, to take the first round on three of the judges’ cards, but Natalya Bogdanova gradually fought her way back in the fight and edged it on a narrow 3-2 split.

Bogdanova will meet the Australian number one seed Lekeisha Pergoliti who looked impressive in her unanimous 5-0 win over Kazakhstan’s Aziza Zokirova.

After two narrow losses in the men and women’s light-middleweight semis, the home nation finally got some joy at cruiserweight when Teagn Stott defeated Ukraine’s Danylo Zhasan.

Boxing in front Ukraine’s legendary world heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, who is in Liverpool for the Championships, Zhasan, struggled to get to grips with Stott’s sharp jab.  And though he rallied in the third, it was not enough to disrupt the Englishman who managed the fight well to run out a 4-1 winner and set-up a final with Uzbekistan’s Akmaijon Isroiliv.

The final semi of the evening session was in the women’s light-heavyweight division where wins for England’s Emily Asquith and Australia’s Eseta Flint will see them meet in tomorrow’s final. 

Earlier in the day, the first session featured 14 semi-finals in the women’s light-flyweight (W48kg), bantamweight (W54kg) and middleweight (W75kg) and the men’s flyweight (M50kg) bantamweight weight (M55kg) welterweight (M65kg) and light-heavyweight (M80kg) divisions.

At light-flyweight the bouts went to form with victories for Kazakhstan’s number one seed, Nazym Kyzaibay, and the number three seed from India, Minakshi Minakshi. The pair will meet in tomorrow’s final.

The bantamweight category saw two unanimous 5-0 victories for the Yoseline Perez of the USA and Chinese Tapiei’s Hsiao-Wen Huang, in sprang a minor surprise in defeating the number two seed and Paris 2024 medallist, Aeji Im of Korea.  Huang and Perez in the final in tomorrow’s early session.    

A see-sawing middleweight clash between Ireland’s Aoife O’Rourke and China’s Lima Wang was one of the most entertaining bouts of the early session and could have gone either way until a decisive final round from the Irish boxer have her a 4-0 victory.  2024 Olympian, O’Rourke will meet Busra Isildar of Turkey in the final after she overcame Australia’s Emma Greentree.

In the men’s flyweight contests a shoot-out of the top four seeds saw Kazakhstan’s Sanzhar Tashkenbay overcome Alejando Claro Fiz of Cuba and Mongolia’s Battuga Aldarkhishig get the better of Soushi Makino of Japan.

The Kazak team enjoyed more success at bantamweight as Makhmud Sabyrkhan secured a unanimous 5-0 victory over Chuang Liu of China to set-up a final with Spain’s Rafael Lozano Serrano who defeated Ireland’s Patsy Joyce in the second semi-final.

Boxing off the backfoot, Joyce had looked in charge after a strong first round, but the Spaniard came back strongly in the second before nicking a cagey final round on three of the five judges’ cards to secure a razor thin 3-2 victory.

The first welterweight semi-final was one of the most eagerly awaited bouts of the day as Cuba’s Paris 2024 gold medallist, Erislandy Alvarez, met Brazil’s highly rated Yuri Falcao.  Both boxers showed their full range of skills, but it was the Brazilian who did the more eye-catching work take the fight 4-0.

Falcao will face Uzbekistan’s Asadhkuja Muydinkhujaev in the final, who was given a walkover after his Georgian opponent pulled out with a hand injury.

The last two bouts of the morning saw victories for Javokhir Ummataliev of Uzbekistan and France’s Yojerlin Cesar at light-heavyweight.  They will meet in Sunday’s final.

Tomorrow will see 17 finals over two sessions of boxing, which start at 12:00 BST and 18:00 BST.  Over the day ten men and ten women will be crowned World Boxing Champions.

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

SOCIAL MEDIA:

World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels:

• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/officialworldboxing/
• X – https://x.com/RealWorldBoxing
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWorldBoxing

BRAZIL’s Rebeca De Lima Santos became the first boxer to secure a place in the final of the World Boxing Championships when she defeated Viktoriya Grafeyeva of Kazakhstan in their lightweight (W60kg) semi-final.

She will meet Aneta Rygielska in the final after the Pole defeated Chengyu Yang of China on a razor thin 3-2 split after a fantastic contest which concluded the afternoon session of boxing at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Speaking in the mixed zone after her victory, De Lima Santos said: “I feel amazing. This is where I planned to be, what I was working for. And as I said to you, I’m coming for the gold. 

“It was all planned, I had a conversation with my team. We prepared for this. We’ve been through a lot this year. I had a rough beginning, this year I lost at home at the World Boxing Cup Foz Do Iguacu, and I put in my mind that I was never going to let it happen again. And since then, I’ve been working a lot. And I deserve this, and I deserve my gold.

“I don’t think I changed my boxing, but I changed my mentality and what I’m doing with my boxing, I changed my mentality to get 100% off my boxing. Don’t let anybody out boxing me. So, this is happening and I’m happy with my progress.”

The Brazilian’s victory was followed by 14 more semi-finals in the evening session which began with a bout of contrasting styles as Columbia’s Valeria Arboleda Mendoza took on Paris 2024 silver medallist, Julia Szeremeta of Poland at featherweight (W57kg).

Although the Polish number one seed deployed her skilful footwork and persistent switching to try and confuse her opponent, she did not have it all her own way but did enough to win on a split decision.  She will meet India’s Jaismine Jaismine in the final on Saturday night.

The first welterweight (W65kg) semi saw a terrific tussle between Ireland’s Grainne Walsh and Aida Abiikeyeva with both boxers repeatedly landing over three hard fought rounds. In the end, the judges felt the Kazakh did the better work and handed her a victory that was much closer than the unanimous scoreline might suggest.  Abikeyeva will meet Navbakhor Khamidova of Uzbekistan in Sunday’s final.

In the women’s heavyweight (80kg+), one seed, Nupur Nupur of India, advanced to the finals via a comfortable 5:0 decision against Türkiye’s Seyma Duztas. It wasn’t to be for the second seed, Kazakhstan’s Yeldana Talipova, however, who suffered a defeat to Poland’s Agata Kaczmarska. It was the third win on a successful for day for the nation.

The men’s lightweight competition gave the crowd another opportunity to see Paris 2024 gold medallist, Abdumalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan, who is yet to lose a round in Liverpool. 

However, it was cut short in round two when the referee stopped the contest after an accidental clash of heads with his opponent Shunsuke Kitamoto of Japan. The bout went to the cards where Khalokov was leading with five judges to secure another unanimous victory.

He will meet Brazil’s Luis Oliveira in what promises to be a mouthwatering final on Sunday night.

At middleweight it was the battle of the southpaws as number one seed and Paris Olympian Rami Kiwan of Bulgaria clashed with local favourite, Callum Makin.

Round one saw Kiwan use his long reach to try and take control with the jab, while Makin frequently countered by doubling up his own jab. A point deduction for Makin in round two saw the Bulgarian take the upper hand and he saw the fight out in the third to secure a unanimous victory and set-up a final with Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Erkinboev.

Two upsets followed at men’s heavyweight with the favourite, Loren Berto Alfonso Domingues of Azerbaijan, falling short to Brazil’s Isaias Santos Ribeiro Filho in a thrilling bout. The Brazilian unanimously won the first round before narrowly losing the next two rounds while doing just enough to maintain a 3:2 win.

Filho will meet Uzbekistan’s Turabek Khabibullaev in the final, who defeated the number two seed, Enmanuel Reyes Pla of Spain, with a 4:1 decision.

The super heavyweights once again delivered exciting action to bring the day to a close. Uzbekistan’s Jakhongir Zokirov put on a clinic to beat China’s Danabieke Bayikewuzi in a unanimous decision. There were multiple counts for Bayikewuzi who performed admirably in the face of a dominant performance from the 22-year-old Uzbek.

Zokirov will face Kazakhstan’s Aibek Oralbay who won a fascinating session finale fight against Cuba’s iconic Julio Cesar La Cruz. The first round had Oralbay ahead by one, before he unanimously took the second leaving too much work for Cuba’s star to do in the third. La Cruz did his best, even earning a count from the referee on his opponent and taking the final round, but the points didn’t swing back enough meaning the two-time Olympic gold medallist departs the competition with a bronze medal.

Earlier in the day, the quarter finals were brought to a close with 12 quarter finals in the women’s light-flyweight (W48kg) competition and the men’s bantamweight (55kg) and cruiserweight (M85kg) divisions.

The light-flyweight competition saw the first and third seeds, Nazym Kyzaibay of Kazakhstan and India’s Minakshi Minakshi progress to the semis whilst the second and fourth seeds, Hikaru Shinohara of Japan and Italy’s crashed out of the competition.

At bantamweight, Cuba’s number one seed, Alejando Claro Fiz started slowly and had to fight of a spirited performance by Turkey’s Samet Gamus to scrape into the next round 3-2, 

It was the same for number three seed, Soushi Makino of Japan who did just enough to edge out Uzbekistan’s Shodiyorjon Melikuziev in one of the best bouts of the session on the narrowest of splits.

At cruiserweight, Teagn Stott impressed with a second round stoppage of Bulgaria’s Semion Boldirev to secure the home nation’s fifth medal of Championships. 

Stott started strongly using his sharp jab to good effect and inflicted a standing count on his opponent in the first.  He delivered two more standing counts in round two before the referee decided he had seen enough and called the contest off.  Stott will face Ukraine’s Danylo Zhasan in the semi-finals.

Tomorrow’s two sessions will see 24 more semi-finals and the first three finals of the competition in the women’s featherweight and heavyweight categories and the men’s middleweight division.

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

SOCIAL MEDIA:

World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels:

• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/officialworldboxing/
• X – https://x.com/RealWorldBoxing
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWorldBoxing

Six athletes have been selected to serve on World Boxing’s Athletes Committee following elections at the inaugural World Boxing Championships in Liverpool.

The new Athletes Committee is made up of Buse Naz Çakıroğlu (Turkey), Caitlin Parker (Australia), Daniel Pitt (Wales), Richard Torrez Jr. (USA), Yojerlin Cesar (France) and Zareen Nikhat (India).

Parker and Torrez Jr. have previously served on the committee and were re-elected following the electoral process in Liverpool, which allowed every athlete attending the World Boxing Championships to vote. Çakıroğlu, Cesar and Nikhat have all competed at the World Boxing Championships this week.

Speaking on his re-election, Torrez Jr. said: “I’m incredibly happy to be back on the Athletes Commission, it is an honour, I’m just trying to give the voice for the athletes. I think it’s a crucial part of World Boxing because, at the end of the day, everything is about the athlete.

“I’m thankful for these elections because now we’re able to have a committee with different voices from different areas of the world. That’s incredibly important because what is my problem might not necessarily be the problem of someone in another continent.

“The first few years were about creating rules and regulations for World Boxing, and how we could get boxing back to the Olympics. I think these next couple of years are where the voice really is going to matter and how we can make boxing great.”

The Committee, which provides advice, guidance and opinions to World Boxing, is designed to ensure that boxers have a voice in the development of the organisation.

In addition to its role as a forum for discussing the needs of athletes, the group of six will nominate two of its members to serve as Athlete Representatives, who will be invited to attend and contribute directly to World Boxing Executive Board meetings and sessions of Congress.

Sixty-four boxers from twenty-seven countries secured a guaranteed medal in a dramatic day of quarter-final action at the World Boxing Championships 2025 in Liverpool.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were comfortably the two most successful nations on the day with seven and eight wins respectively, while the two nations met five times themselves. In their head-to-head fights, it was Uzbekistan who came out on top with four wins to one.

The most eye-catching results of the day came among those duels, when Paris 2024 silver medallist, Nurbek Oralbay, was comprehensively defeated 5-0 by Javokhir Ummataliev in the men’s light-heavyweight (M80kg). 

The early session opened with a series of female contests and delivered an immediate surprise at bantamweight (W54kg) where the Paris silver medallist, Hatice Akbas was comprehensively outpointed by Italy’s Sirine Charaabi. 

The Italian shocked the number one seed with a fast start and though the Turkish number one seed fought back in the third, it was not enough to prevent Charaabi taking the bout and a place in Saturday’s semi-final, where she will meet Yoseline Perez of the USA.

The lightweight (W60kg) category went largely to form with victories for Rebeca Santos of Brazil, Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Grafeyeva, Chengyu Yang of China and Poland’s Aneta Rygielska.

However, there were surprises in store at middleweight (75kg) as Brazilian third seed Viviane Pereira lost to Lina Wang of China and Norway’s highly rated number two seed Sunniva Hofstad went out on a 4-1 split to Ireland’s Aoife O’Rourke.

The women’s bouts in the early session concluded with victories for India’s Nupur Nupur, Yilian Zhan from China, Yeldana Talipova of Kazakhstan and Turkey’s Seyma Duztas, who went through in style with a first round stoppage of Saudi Arabia’s Noof Alyousef.

The bantamweight contest (M54kg) opened with surprise defeat for the Dominican Republic’s number one seed, Junior Alcantara Reyes who was undone by a terrific final round by Liu Chuang that enabled the Chinese boxer to edge the contest 3-2 and set-up a semi-final with Sabyrkhan Makhmud of Kazakhstan.

Next up was hometown favourite Odel Kamara who was facing Mongolia’s Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar at light-middleweight (M70kg).  Backed by a noisy home crowd, the English number two seed did not have it all his own way however his fast hands and speed on the counter provided decisive as he secured another unanimous victory.  He will meet Torekhan Sabyrkhan in Saturday’s semi-final.

The early session concluded with four heavyweight bouts which saw wins for Loren Berto Alfonso Domingues of Azerbaijan, Brazil’s Isaias Filho, Turaek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan and Spain’s Emmanuel Reyes Pla who all go into Friday’s semi-finals.

A further thirty-two quarter finals were fought in the evening session, opening with the women’s flyweight (51kg) and closed out by the men’s superheavyweights (90kg+). The latter witnessed a shock result as the weight’s top seed, Italy’s Diego Lenzi, suffered a defeat to China’s Danabieke Bayikewuzi with the Italian receiving two deductions for warnings from the referee.

Cuba’s four-time Olympian, Julio Cesar La Cruz, narrowly avoided the same fate having lost the first round to England’s Damar Thomas, but using his experience to claw back and win via split decision. La Cruz will face Aibek Oralbay in the semi final while Bayikewuzi takes on Jakhongir Zokirov for a place in the gold medal match.

Earlier in the evening Turkiye’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu, the top seed in the women’s flyweight, kicked things off with a confident unanimous decision victory against India’s Zareen Nikhat. The only other remaining seed in the category, Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan, also delivered a clinical win against Chinese Taipei’s Yi-Xuan Guo.

Speaking after the fight, Cakiroglu said: “This match was indeed like a final since Zareen is not only a good boxer but also possesses a wealth of experience. We encountered him in the quarter finals today. Ideally, we would have faced each other in the finals, but instead, we are here.

“It was a lovely and tough match. Even with the warning, it was a great match. I hope the semi-finals and finals will be equally enjoyable. I just want to return home as a champion.”

Julia Szeremeta, the favourite in women’s featherweight (57kg), followed suit with a victory but was made to work for it by Kazakhstan’s Karina Ibragimova. Ibragimova impressed in the first round to secure a lead, before Poland’s Olympic silver medallist fought back in the following rounds to win via a 3:2 decision.

The women’s welterweight (65kg )was headlined by a bout between category the favourite Liu Yang, from China, and Ireland’s Grainne Walsh. The intense affair went down to the wire with Walsh ultimately earning a 3:2 result.

Speaking on her mentality during these World Boxing Championships, Walsh said: “I know that the quality of opposition here is just unreal. We came from the camp in Sheffield where I’ve been inspired by all these people. I’d like to share in the ring with all of them. But like I said, everyone is beatable.”

“Someone said to me yesterday, two arms, two legs, who shows up on the day is the one that walks away with the glory. I’m glad to be on the podium now, but it’s definitely not over yet.”

The remaining categories largely went to form with Uzbekistan’s Abdumalik Khalokov and Brazil’s Luiz Oliveira both winning convincingly in the men’s lightweight (60kg). Japan’s Shunsuke Kitamoto and Bulgaria’s Radoslav Rosenov were the other winners in the category.

The same can be said in the men’s welterweight (65kg) with all four seeds in the category booking their place in the semis. Cuba’s Olympic gold medallist, Erislandey Alvarez, is joined by Brazil’s Yuri Falcao Dos Reis, Georgia’s Lasha Guruli and Uzbekistan’s Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev.

Capping off the action, the men’s middleweight (75kg) saw another hometown win with Callum Makin beating Joshua Ofori of Canada, which sets up the local for a semi final bout versus weight favourite Rami Kiwan.

Tomorrow is a rest day and the action will return on Friday 12 September 2025 with a single ring in the M&S Bank Arena. It will feature quarter finals at light-flyweight (W48kg) and cruiserweight (M85kg) followed by semi-finals in four men’s and four women’s categories.

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

SOCIAL MEDIA:

World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels:

• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/officialworldboxing/
• X – https://x.com/RealWorldBoxing
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWorldBoxing

Australia’s Lekeisha Pergoliti, Chantelle Reid from England, Natalya Bogdanova from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan’s Aziza Zokirova, are the first four boxers to win a medal at the World Boxing Championships 2025 in Liverpool.

The four women triumphed in their light-middleweight (W70kg) quarter finals to ensure that they will leave Liverpool with at least a bronze medal.

First to claim a medal was Pergoliti who defeated Ireland’s Lisa O’Rourke by the narrowest of 3-2 margins in a see-sawing contest in Ring A.

Seconds later England’s Chantelle Reid, secured victory in Ring B with a comprehensive unanimous points win over Mengge Zhang of China.  It sealed a remarkable turnaround for the Paris 2024 boxer who only returned to Olympic-style boxing eight weeks ago, having considered turning professional.

In the bouts that followed Bogdovana defeated Sema Caliskan of Turkey 5-0 to secure Kazakhstan’s first medal while Zokirova did the same for Uzbekistan as she cruised to a unanimous victory over Germany’s Leonie Mueller.

Speaking in the mixed zone after their bouts Pergoliti and Reid were delighted.

Pergoliti said: “That was a real hard fight. Very hard boxer. Very aggressive. I feel like I kept my composure, and that’s what won me the fight.

“This means a lot to me. This is actually my first world championship and my first year being on the team. For the past two years, I’ve been number two. So I feel like I’ve really worked hard to get here. And I feel like it’s really starting to pay off.

“I always want to be on top of that podium. But, Yeah, I’m just super stoked to be in the semis.”

Reid added: “It’s such a blessing and so grateful to be here. Just can’t thank GB enough for the preparation for this competition. And thank you to my corner, who’ve all been amazing so far and I can’t wait to finish this competition with you.

“We’re going for gold. I can’t see myself leaving the competition with anything less so I’m just going to put that work in. 

“I am grateful to be here and obviously for my primary school teacher for persuading me and encouraging me to come back to GB and go again for the next Olympics and try and get that gold medal I missed out on.

“I feel like I’m flying. I feel fast and strong at the weight. I am feeling amazing at 70kg.”

The quartet of medallists will fight it out in Saturday’s semi-finals.  Reid will take on Bogdanova and Pergoliti will tackle Zokirova.

The rest of the evening session featured 36 bouts across women’s light-flyweight (W48kg) and the men’s flyweight (M50kg), welterweight (M65kg) and cruiserweight (85kg) divisions.

The women’s light flyweight and men’s flyweight and welterweight competitions all went with the formbook as the top four seeds went through in all three categories.

Victories for Alejandro Claro Fiz at flyweight and Erislandy Alvarez at welterweight meant it was a better day for Cuba but they did not have it all their own way.  Claro Fiz had a battle to see of Hungary’s Istvan Szaka while Alvarez had to dig deep in his 3-1 victory over Almaz Orozbekov of Kyrgyzstan.

The evening session finished with eight cruiserweight bouts, that saw both top seeds exit the tournament as Kazakhstan’s number one ranked Bekzad Nurdauletov lost 3-2 to Georgia’s Georgii Kushitashvili while Scotland’s Robert McNulty unanimously defeated India’s second seed Jugnoo Jugnoo. It also marked the end of the tournament for Aryan Saaed Panah who lost on a razor thin 3-2 split to Michael Fares Derouiche of Austria.

Earlier in the day, the morning session featured 29 bouts in the women’s flyweight (W51kg) and lightweight (W60kg) categories and the men’s bantamweight (M55kg) and light-heavyweight (80kg) divisions.

The men’s bantamweight contests went with form as seven of the eight top seeds progressed to the next round.

The only one to miss out was the number two ranked boxer, Javier Ibanez Diaz of Bulgaria who lost on a 3-2 split to Ireland’s Patsy Joyce, after an accidental clash of heads caused the referee to stop the contest after two round and go to the judges’ cards.  Provided he can overcome the nasty looking cut he received, Joyce will face Mirzizbek Mirzakhaliov of Uzbekistan in the quarter finals.

The standout performance in the bantamweight division came from Makhmud Sabrykhan of Kazakhstan who defeated Bashkim Bajoku of Kosovo with a first round knockout to set up a medal bout on Wednesday with Yamaguchi Rui of Japan.

Sabyrkhan’s knockout was one of several excellent performances in a very good session for the Kazakhstan team which won all four of its bouts. 

It included a strong performance by Viktoriya Erafeyeva at lightweight (W60kg), who scored a unanimous victory over the home nation’s Lucy Kings-Wheatley, and a convincing win at light-heavyweight (80kg) by Paris silver medallist and the competition’s number one seed, Nurbek Oralbay.

Faced with a tricky opponent in Tangiathan Tucohhetaerbieke of China, Oralbay came out of the blocks quickly in rounds one and two before easing off in the third as he cruised to unanimous 5-0 victory.  He will meet Javokhir Ummataliev of Uzbekistan in the quarter finals.

The early part of the first session saw the women’s flyweight category complete round of 16.  Turkey’s two-time Olympic silver medallist, Buse Naz Cakiroglu, impressed once again with a very convincing victory over Irismar Cardozo Rojas of Venezuela as she lived up to her status as the number one seed at 51kg. 

She will box India’s former two-time world champion Zareen Nikhat in what promises to be a mouthwatering clash in Wednesday’s quarter finals.

Tomorrow’s session (Wednesday 10 September) promises to be one of the most dramatic days of the whole competition and will feature 64 quarter final bouts, all of which have a medal at stake. The action will get underway at 12:00 BST.

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

SOCIAL MEDIA:

World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels:

• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/officialworldboxing/
• X – https://x.com/RealWorldBoxing
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWorldBoxing

Uzbekistan continued to impress on day five of the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England is its men and women secured five wins and suffered no defeats on another day of top-class action at the M&S Bank Arena.

The Uzbeks secured two wins in the women’s competition and three in the men’s to continue the impressive form which saw them finish top of the boxing medal table at Paris 2024.

The early session featured 28 round of 16 contests in the women’s bantamweight (W54kg) and light-heavyweight (W80kg) categories and the men’s light-middleweight (M70kg) and heavyweight (90kg) divisions.

Some of the best action came in the men’s light-middleweight competition where Shavkatjon Boltaev of Uzbekistan and Frank Martinez Bernard delivered a dramatic match-up between two high quality operators.

Martinez Bernard had impressed in his previous contest and, after a close first round, seemed to be getting the upper hand when he floored his Uzbek opponent in the second to take the round 10-9 on all five judges’ cards.

However, Boltaev roared back in the third to knockdown the Spaniard. A warning and a point deduction for Martinez Bernard edged the contest in his opponents favour and was enough to see the Uzbek progress to the next round with a 3-0 points win.  He will meet the number one seed from Jordan, Zeyad Eashash, in the quarter-final on Wednesday.

Hometown favourite Odel Kamara delivered another fine performance on his second appearance in the light-middleweight tournament.  Buoyed by a noisy home crowd, he floored his opponent within five seconds of the opening bell and was rarely troubled as he secured a unanimous 5-0 victory over Canada’s Kuwardeep Manu.

In a session which did see a number of knockdowns, the most conclusive came in the heavyweight category where the Malachi Georges of the USA stopped Levente Hunor Kiss in the second round. It added to Georges’s growing reputation as a concussive puncher and followed his recent one punch knockout of Italy’s Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine at the World Boxing Cup in Kazakhstan.

In the women’s competition, Korea’s Paris bronze medallist, Aeji Im, had a scare against England Lauren Mackie at bantamweight.  Mackie put the Korean number two seed under pressure from the opening bell, however Im’s experience enabled her to deal with the onslaught and emerge with a narrow 3-2 win on the judges’ scorecards. She will face Brazil’s Tatian Chagas in the quarter finals.

The four bouts in the women’s light heavyweight category saw victories for Gulsaya Yerzhan of Kazakhstan, China’s Qimeng Zhong, Emilian Koterska of Poland and England’s Emily Asquith, who all move forward to Wednesday’s quarter finals when there will be 64 medal bouts.

The evening session featured 32 bouts spread across the women’s welterweight (W65kg) division and the men’s lightweight (M60kg), middleweight (M75kg) and super-heavyweight (90kg+) categories.

The men’s lightweight contests gave fans the chance to see two of the most accomplished boxers in the competition as Paris 2024 gold medallist, Abdumalik Khalokov and Brazil’s Luiz Gabriel Oliveira progressed to quarter finals. 

As has become customary, Khalokov, did not drop a round as he defeated Italy’s Giuseppe Canonico to set-up a quarter final with Zhexen Bibars of Kazakhstan. Oliveira’s victory was also unanimous and he will face Poland’s Brack Pawel in the next round.

Action in the men’s middleweight (M75kg) and super-heavyweight (M90kg+) categories saw a few upsets in both competitions and featured the stoppage of the tournament so far.

At middleweight, England’s relative newcomer Callum Makin, upset the formbook with a 3-2 split decision victory over Polish number four seed Michal Jarlinski while Ukraine’s Illiusha Pavlo did the same to the number two seed from Kazakhstan, Sabirzhan Akkalykov.

England also caused an upset in the super-heavyweight division as Damar Thomas secured a unanimous win over Brazil’s number two seed, Joel Da Silva. Another seed to go out of the competition was Germany’s Nikita Putilov, who succumbed to Uzbekistan’s Jakhongir Zokirov. It was another sign of the strength of the Uzbek team, which is currently the best performing in the tournament.

If Uzbekistan are the current team of the tournament then a candidate for punch of the tournament came in the men’s middleweight bouts where Canada’s Joshua William Ofori stunned Nuradin Rustambek Uulu with a ferocious right hand that ended their bout before the end of the first round. Ofori’s reward is a quarter-final with Callum Makin on Wednesday evening.

Earlier in the evening the eight bouts in the women’s welterweight competition followed the form book as the top four seeds, Liu Yang of China, Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan’s Navbakhor Khamidova and Yoseline Perez from the USA all progressed to the quarters and the chance to box for a medal.

Tomorrow’s session (Tuesday 9 September) will see the first guaranteed medallists of the Championships when the women’s light-middleweight (W70kg) quarter finals take place in the earlier session which starts at 12:00 BST.

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

SOCIAL MEDIA:

World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels:

• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/officialworldboxing/
• X – https://x.com/RealWorldBoxing
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWorldBoxing