AIBA Youth World Championships 2018

[HI-TECH Boxing]

Not many stood out in the Semifinals.
The only boxers that looked impressive were Abdumalik Khalokov, 56kg, of Uzbekistan and Yermakhan Zhakpekov, 69kg, of Kazakhstan.
One of these guys should be Boxer of the Tournament. I would edge it for Khalokov just because I felt his style had a bit more to offer.

Dzhambulat Bizhamov of Russia also wasn't bad. He reminds me of Oleg Saitov, 2 time Olympic Gold medalist. Zhakpekov vs. Bizhamov should be a good finals.

I felt Makhmud Sabyrkhan, Kazakhstan, beat Jan Rivera, Puerto Rico. Rivera was fighting on the back foot, but failed to do anything offensively.
Sabyrkhan cut-off the ring relatively well and landed more often.
I don't like that back foot fighters get so much credit. It's almost like people think that just because you are fighting on the back foot means you are out-boxing your opponent. It's complete nonsense.

Decisions have been fair for the most part though. I feel like Kazakhstan was very unlucky to not get some decisions I'll just say that.

[NEETzsche]

Wow, Zhakpekov's KO was brutal. Yeasungnoen looked in a really bad way and there didn't seem to be a doctor on location to have a look at him either

[NEETzsche]

Don't agree with the Kolesnikov vs Pinder result either. It was a cagey fight to be sure but Pinder seemed to land the better shots for me

[HI-TECH Boxing]

Wow, Zhakpekov's KO was brutal. Yeasungnoen looked in a really bad way and there didn't seem to be a doctor on location to have a look at him either

Kazakhstan is continuing their tradition of producing great Welterweights.
Yeasungnoen isn't even a bad fighter at all, so impressive that Zhakpekov KO'd him like that.

[HI-TECH Boxing]

I want to re-watch all the finals that took place today, but here are my first thoughts.

49kg: Thitisan Panmod of Thailand beat Jean Paul Rivera of Puerto Rico 5-0. Great decision Panmod made Rivera fight his fight and basically controlled all of the fight.

56kg: Abdumalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan beat Vsevolod Shumkov of Russia 5-0. Khalokov landed more often. The fight got a little sloppy at times, but Khalokov was the clear winner.
Khalokov has so much raw talent. He could be really good. He just needs to fix a few things.
He has to learn how to control himself. It feels like he tries to fight in a rush. He just needs to pick his shots and relax. Needs to keep his hands up and use more upper body movement.
He really needs to stop leaning backwards when he is retreating, because he just leaves his head exposed by leaving it up in the air. He also loses balance when he does that.

Khalokov is in the short list of the Best Boxers of the Tournament. One of the few boxers that won all his bouts unanimously.

64kg: Idalberto Umara of Cuba beat Ilya Popov of Russia, 3-2. I thought Popov edged it, but he left it too close. AIBA loves Cuban boxers that fight on the back foot. Both landed punches, but I felt Popov was the ring general. Had Umara against the ropes most of the fight and didn't really let him move.
Popov needs to throw more straight punches. Some upper body movement wouldn't be bad either.

75kg: Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan beat Daniil Teterev of Russia, 4-1. I definitely want to re-watch this fight. Felt Teterev did enough to win, but it was close. I don't think I was fully paying attention to this fight, so I definitely want a second look.

91kg: Igor Federov of Russia beat Aybek Oralbay of Kazakhstan, 3-2. Another fight I really want a second look at. Felt Oralbay won this one.

[NEETzsche]

Just caught up on today's fights. All of them apart from the Bantams were close, and all of them apart from the Light Flys were entertaining, so it was a nice session of boxing. I don't have any complaints about the decisions either. The MW and HW bouts could be argued either way but there was certainly no robbery. Umara definitely beat Popov in my opinion. I agree that Khalokov probably deserves to be named fighter of the tournament

[NEETzsche]

It seems that Russia and Kazakhstan comfortably had the best teams in the tournament but I'm also impressed with Thailand. It's not a nation I typically associate with the amateurs but they've done really well in multiple weight classes. Not overly impressed with the Brits unfortunately, even our possible gold medallist Ivan Price is rather one-dimensional imo. USA not particularly well represented either

[pesticid]

It seems that Russia and Kazakhstan comfortably had the best teams in the tournament but I'm also impressed with Thailand. It's not a nation I typically associate with the amateurs but they've done really well in multiple weight classes. Not overly impressed with the Brits unfortunately, even our possible gold medallist Ivan Price is rather one-dimensional imo. USA not particularly well represented either

Cuba only sent 3 fighters unfortunately and that's why they couldn't get the 1st team place.

[pesticid]

Just caught up on today's fights. All of them apart from the Bantams were close, and all of them apart from the Light Flys were entertaining, so it was a nice session of boxing. I don't have any complaints about the decisions either. The MW and HW bouts could be argued either way but there was certainly no robbery. Umara definitely beat Popov in my opinion. I agree that Khalokov probably deserves to be named fighter of the tournament

Popov and Umara fought earlier this year and Popov won it but Popov I thought was off this tournament, first he had a very close fight with the Thai fighter and after winning a close first round against Umara I thought he got beat to the punch repeatedly the rest of the fight. Aside from his preliminary fight Popov was really flat footed this whole tournament and I thought he was the biggest star.

[NEETzsche]

Popov and Umara fought earlier this year and Popov won it but Popov I thought was off this tournament, first he had a very close fight with the Thai fighter and after winning a close first round against Umara I thought he got beat to the punch repeatedly the rest of the fight. Aside from his preliminary fight Popov was really flat footed this whole tournament and I thought he was the biggest star.

Yeah his performance in the opening bout was electrifying but the ones after never quite lived up to that. It seemed like he was actually sitting on his punches too much, focusing on trying to hurt his opponents rather than simply win. Although that attitude hurt him in this tournament it might help him when he eventually transitions to the pros

Umara was very impressive, looked like a vintage Cuban style boxer to me. He'll have to wait for Andy Cruz to change weight class before he gets a place on the A-team I guess