IBA World Junior Championships. Quarterfinal pairs are formed in four weight categories © IBA

The start of the fourth day in the 2023 IBA World Junior Championships was perfect for the host country. 50 kg boxer Tihran Ovsepyan looked very confident in his first fight of the tournament and defeated Mario Nakic (Croatia) by unanimous decision. In the next round he will meet Crein Moyo from Zimbabwe, who was exempt from the 1/8 finals. The other quarterfinal pair on the top of the bracket formed Achilleas Tsepidis from Greece and Dominik Gombai from Hungary. Both of them won their bouts by unanimous decisions. 

In the bottom of the bracket Bulgarian Angel Dimitrov was so dominant against Venezuelan Rafael Bustos Medina, that the referee in the ring stopped the fight in the second round. In the battle of two Asian boxers Biloldzhon Iksanov from Tajikistan won the fight against Abdalla Hojayev from Turkmenistan and will meet Dimitrov in the next round.

In the fight full of great punches and beautiful attacks Divash Katare from India stunned Russia’s Arseniy Zhiltsov winning the bout by split decision (3-2). Zhiltsov is the boxer from Russia who exits from the tournament. In the last quarterfinal of the 50 kg weight category Katare will meet Khusan Kokhorov from Uzbekistan, who looked very confident against Kazakhstan’s Aldiyar Bakhadur.

The home crowd was silent when Shahbozbek Ergashev from Uzbekistan (54 kg) defeated Vahagn Galstyan. The Uzbek boxer looked too strong for the Armenian boxer winning the fight by unanimous decision. Seitjan Babajanov from Turkmenistan was cautioned three times by the referee for holding Russia’s Pavel Kondrashov’s hands and was disqualified. Kandrashov will meet Ergashev in the quarterfinals. Davit Muushkudiani from Georgia and Jatin Jatin from India won their bouts by unanimous decisions and formed the next pair of the quarterfinals in the 54 kg weight category.

Romania’s Mihai Nica defeated Serbia's Nikola Bogatinski by technical knockout in the second round and advanced to the next round where he will meet Nurassyl Tulebek from Kazakhstan. The last quarterfinal pair of the 54 kg weight category formed Igor Soczowka from Poland and Andras Horvath from Hungary.

Tigran Hovsepyan from Armenia (in blue) after his fight against Mario Nakic from Croatia © Boxing Federation of Armenia
Tigran Hovsepyan from Armenia (in blue) after his fight against Mario Nakic from Croatia © Boxing Federation of Armenia

Andranik Martirosyan (60 kg) from Armenia was way stronger than his opponent from Poland Jan Szymon Januszewski, winning every round by unanimous decision. He will meet Uladzislau Kaurau from Belarus in the next round. The Belarussian athlete won his fight by technical knockout at the end of the third round. Kazakhstan’s Alikhan Asker stopped India’s Saini Sarthi and advanced to the next round where he will meet Akram Zeadeh in the quarterfinals.

From the top of the bracket in the 60 kg weight category Mukhammadsulton Sultonov from Tajikistan and Firuzjon Sadullaev from Uzbekistan were dominant in their fights and now they will meet in the quarterfinals. In a very spectacular bout Akaki Basaria (60 kg) from Georgia defeated Russia’s Roman Bogdanov by split decision and secured his place in the quarterfinals, where he will meet Romania’s Daniel Grigorie. 

Yolber Bandomo from Spain defeated Radu Simion from Romania by technical knockout and advanced to the quarterfinals of 75 kg weight category, where he will meet Iran’s Ebadolrahman Dara. The caution in the second round caused problems for Armenia’s Albert Harutyunyan, who was looking for a confident win against Anatoli Baranouski from Belarus, but had to defend his advantage in the third round. At the end it was Harutyunyan who eventually got the win by split decision (3-2). He will meet Kazakhstan’s Igor Solovyev in the next round. Soloviev’s strong punches thrown on Davod Pavlidis from Greece made the referee stop the bout in the second round. 

Ruslan Esanov from Uzbekistan was also very dominant against Ivan Nekic from Croatia, and the referee had to stop the fight. Esanov will meet India’s Sahil Sahil. The last quarterfinal pair of the 75 kg weight category formed Russia’s Vladimir Dranko and Sandor Varadi from Hungary.