The Asian Youth Boxing Championship for athletes under 22 opened with a thunderous upset: Tashkent bantamweight Samandar Olimov broke the resistance of reigning 2024 junior world champion Beksultan Boranbek of Kazakhstan by unanimous decision. In his very first bout on the Thai ring, the Uzbek fighter turned from a dark horse into one of the tournament’s main favourites.
Bantamweight Duel: Nerves on the Edge
The opponents met in the up-to-55 kg division — one of the fastest and most technical categories in Olympic boxing. From the opening second the bout followed a trading pattern: tight body combinations alternated with sharp head attacks, and the pace hardly dropped.
Turning Seconds of the Opening Rounds
By the midpoint of the first three-minute round, the referee twice opened the count, recording a “standing eight” for both boxers. In the second round the Kazakh found himself under another barrage of accurate punches, and the next protective count in his direction predetermined the judges’ scorecards. Olimov managed the third round wisely: he worked at distance, clinched at the right moments and never allowed Boranbek to seize the initiative.
A Quarter-Final Ticket for Olimov
The victory sent the Uzbek representative into the top-8 of the continental championship, where a duel for a medal spot now awaits him. For Boranbek the tournament in Thailand ended prematurely, a surprise to many experts: only this spring in Budva (Montenegro) he had claimed the world youth title without question.
Continental Debut under the World Boxing Banner
The championship in Bangkok (1–11 August) entered history as the first youth forum organised by the new international federation World Boxing. National teams from 25 countries took to the Thai canvas, and every victory here carries special weight in the post-Olympic development of amateur boxing.
How Points Are Scored in Olympic Boxing
Amateur bouts use the “10-9” system: the round winner receives ten points, the loser nine. A standing knockdown, a fall to the canvas or a warning for a rules violation leads to additional point deductions. It was precisely two “standing eights” in favour of Olimov that made his advantage obvious and allowed the judges to award the victory unanimously to the Uzbek boxer.
