Olympics-Boxing-Gadzhimagomedov sizzles, Nyika shrugs off attempted bite to win

Heavyweight boxing world champion Muslim Gadzhimagomedov's bid to add Olympic gold to his resume got off to a convincing start on Tuesday before New Zealander David Nyika's Games debut was blighted by an attempted bite from his Moroccan opponent. Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nyika won the first two rounds comfortably, leaving a frustrated Youness Baalla to try and dig his teeth into his opponent's ear during a hold in the final round.


Reuters | Updated: 27-07-2021 13:29 IST | Created: 27-07-2021 13:05 IST
Olympics-Boxing-Gadzhimagomedov sizzles, Nyika shrugs off attempted bite to win
Representative image Image Credit: ANI
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Heavyweight boxing world champion Muslim Gadzhimagomedov's bid to add Olympic gold to his resume got off to a convincing start on Tuesday before New Zealander David Nyika's Games debut was blighted by an attempted bite from his Moroccan opponent.

Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nyika won the first two rounds comfortably, leaving a frustrated Youness Baalla to try and dig his teeth into his opponent's ear during a hold in the final round. Nyika managed to pull out in time and was later handed a unanimous victory on points.

"I've always backed myself and backed the people around me to lift me up," Nyika said. "I know I am capable of great things. I have every intention to be towards the top of that podium." Competing in Tokyo as a representative of the Russian Olympic Committee because the country was stripped of its flag and anthem for doping offenses, Gadzhimagomedov is the odds-on favorite to add the Tokyo gold to his 2019 world title.

He took a few seconds to gauge his veteran Algerian opponent Abdelhafid Benchabla but then produced a dominant performance. Gadzhimagomedov's heavy combination of punches left Benchabla in trouble and a right hook from the Russian forced the 34-year-old to drop on his knee and face the standing eight count from the referee.

Britain's Pat McCormack, the top seed in men's welterweight, also had a comfortable outing against Aliaksandr Radzionau of Belarus and advanced to the quarter-finals with a 5-0 win. McCormack, whose twin brother Luke has also reached the last eight stages in the lightweight division, will next meet Bobo-Usmon Baturov.

"I saw him just win the first round. He is a good fighter but if I'm on my game then I will beat him," said McCormack, who will turn professional after the Games. "I felt like it was comfortable today. It was a little bit messy at times but I won easy. I'm happy being the top seed. I always reach my seeding in tournaments so hopefully, I will reach it in this one and bring that gold medal home."

Turkey's reigning welterweight world champion and top seed Busenaz Surmeneli was too strong for Karolina Koszewska of Poland during her 5-0 win. Taiwan's Chen Nien-Chin, who won the welterweight world title in 2018, also advanced after a 3-2 win over Italy's Angela Carini in the final bout of the day's opening session.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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