Indian boxer Deepak stunned Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist and 2021 World Champion Saken Bibossinov on Sunday to reach the pre-quarterfinals of the 51kg category at the Men's World Boxing Championships, while Mohammed Hussamuddin also registered a victory in the 57kg category to advance to the quarterfinals.
Deepak started the bout slowly and took some time to get into his rhythm, and Bibossinov used that to his advantage to land some punches. The Indian boxer ended the first round strongly and hit his opponent with a flurry of punches but trailed 2-3 at the end of it.
Deepak remained in deficit after the second round as well, before mounting a great comeback in the final round. He picked up the pace and moved around swiftly, while hitting his opponent with some hard blows. Deepak evaded the Kazakh boxer's punches consistently and impressed the judges to win by 5-2 after the decision went to a bout review.
Deepak will face Zhang Jiamao of China in his next bout and will look to register another big win in the tournament.
"My target was to play with patience since the start of the bout and gather as many points as I can. The first two rounds were tough but I was focused on not losing my patience and waiting for the right moment to attack. Coaches had told me to lure my opponent with the right punch before using my left hook to good effect. It worked as I connect a lot of left hooks to get points. Every bout is important for me and I play every match like it's a final match for me. I am focused on winning my next bout now," said Deepak after the victory.
On the other hand, Hussamuddin faced Russia's Eduard Savvin in the pre-quarters. The Indian dominated the bout from the start and never gave his opponent a chance.
Hussamuddin was quicker than his Russian opponent in the second round as well. In the third round, he kept on counter-punching smartly to register a 5-0 win.
Two other Indians in action, Sumit (75kg) and Narender Berwal (92+kg) went down in their respective bouts to bow out of the tournament.