Light-Flyweight (≤49 kilograms), Men

With Zou Shiming forgoing an attempt to win a third straight title by embarking on a career in the professional ranks, Joahnys Argilagos of Cuba had emerged as a strong favourite to follow in his footsteps as Olympic champion. The Cuban had won the world title in 2015 and, as such, was top seed for Rio. Argilagos survived a close call in his first bout but eventually faltered against a rank outsider, Yurberjen Martínez of Colombia, whose work rate and aggression was preferred by the judges to the swagger and showboating style of the Cuban.

Meanwhile in the bottom half of the draw the Uzbek fighter Hasanboy Dusmatov was fighting his way through a fiendish draw which put him up against top class opponents from Mexico, Kazakhstan and the USA in quick succession. In the final Dusmatov produced the performance of a champion and controlled the fight with a display of counter punching even as the crowd roared the South American forward. One of the judges scored the final round to Martínez or else Dusmatov would have produced a clean sweep of all rounds on all scorecards. Dusmatov promptly dedicated the gold to his country’s president Islam Karimov. Martínez was the first Colombian boxer to reach an Olympic final.