Welterweight (≤69 kilograms), Men

The 2007 World Champion was American Demetrius Andrade, who was slightly favored based on his performance in Chicago, winning all of his bouts by at least 11 points. The runner-up at the 2007 Chicago Worlds was Thai boxer Non Boonjumnong, brother of the 2004 light-welterweight World Champion, Manus Boonjumnong, who won silver in Beijing. Non Boonjumnong went out in a second round upset, however, and Andrade also lost early, in the quarter-finals, to Korean Kim Jeong-Ju.

But the final came down to Cuba’s Carlos Banteux against the Kazakh, Bakhyt Sarsekbayev, who defeated Kim in the semi-finals. Banteux was relatively unknown, having been named to the Cuban national team in 2007 after the 2005 World Champion, Erislandy Lara, attempted to defect at the Pan American Games. Sarsekbayev had won the 2006 Universiade, the 2005 and 2007 Asian Championships, and 2006 Asian Games, but had not yet medaled at the Worlds. Sarsekbayev won devisively after Banteux, 18-9, continuing the Cuban gold medal shutout in Beijing.