Manish Kaushik advances with commanding win in World Boxing Championships

Indian boxers continued their progress at the 2019 World Boxing Championships in Russia's Yekaterinburg as Manish Kaushik produced a commanding performance against Kyrgyzstan’s Uulu Argen Kadyrbek in the first round of the 63kg category.

Calculated yet decisive

Kaushik, who won a silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, was the superior boxer right from the start.

Content to let his opponent come on to him, the Indian landed snappy combinations of two or three shots before getting out of harm's way.

Then at the start of the second, the southpaw Kaushik rocked his opponent with a straight left, flush to the Kyrgyz's chin.

By now, the Indian was in complete control of the fight, using his superior reach to keep Kadyrbek at bay with some spiteful jabs.

Kadyrbek gamely kept wading forward only to walk straight into trouble, left bamboozled by Kaushik's fleet of foot - which frequently left his opponent holding on to avoid further damage.

There was no surprise as Kaushik emerged as the unanimous winner of the bout with a 5-0 scoreline. He now faces Dutch pugilist Enrico Lacruz in the next round of the World Boxing Championships.

Next in store

Manish Kaushik was the only Indian boxer in action on Thursday (12 September), as India’s Amit Panghal (52kg), Kavinder Singh Bisht (57kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) were given first-round byes and will be in action later on in the tournament.

Friday (13 September) will see Duryodhan Singh Negi take to the ring for the first time, as he is pitted against Armenia’s Koryun Astoyan.