DOHA — Irish light-heavyweight (81kg) Joseph Ward proved the most popular winner on the second night of semifinal action at the AIBA World Boxing Championships here Monday with a convincing victory over Uzbekistan’s Elshod Rasulov.
The 21-year-old is the second Irishman to reach a final this week after Michael Conlan got through to the bantamweight (56kg) final.
Roared on by a noisy contingent of Irish fans, Ward dominated the three-round bout against the veteran Rasulov, who is eight years his senior and took silver at the 2009 championships.
Rasulov was cut above his left eye halfway through the first round, which required treatment from a ringside doctor, and was never in the fight after that.
Ward, a southpaw, picked off Rasulov in the second round before just about doing enough in the last round to take a unanimous points decision.
He has also guaranteed himself a spot at the Rio Olympics after failing to qualify for the London games in 2012, as both finalists in the light-heavyweight division are awarded places at the Summer Games.
In total, 23 fighters will qualify for Rio at this week’s championships. “It’s a massive win after the ups and downs I had in my career, missing out on London,” he said afterwards.
He thanked the Irish fans and added that going to the Olympics was “a dream.”
The final will see Ward once again face Cuban Julio La Cruz, who outpointed Russia’s Pavel Silyagin, also Monday night.
Ward and the Cuban fought in the semifinal of the 2011 championships, when La Cruz won before going on to claim the world title.
La Cruz, 26, won a unanimous decision in a one-sided fight against Silyagin.
The fight of the night was probably the welterweight (69kg) clash between China’s Wei Liu and Morocco’s Mohammed Rabii.
The pair slugged it out for three rounds before Rabii survived a late onslaught to secure a points victory, much to the delight of the Moroccan fans in the Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Arena in the Qatari capital, Doha.
There were also victories for Cuba’s Yosbany Veitia in the Men’s Fly (52kg), and zerbaijan’s impressive Elvin Mamishzada. The pair will now meet in the final.
Mamishzada destroyed his opponent Mohamed Flissi, sending the Algerian crashing to the canvas twice in the first round, winning by a knockout.
Another Cuban Lazaro Alvarez won in the lightweight division (60kg), meaning the Caribbean boxing powerhouse nation has six fighters in the finals, which will take place Wednesday and Thursday.
Britain’s last boxer at the championships though failed to make it through. Super heavyweight (91+kg) Joseph Joyce was outpointed by France’s Tony Yoka to bring the curtain down on Britain’s efforts at the championships.
