Cuba dominated the  "AIBA Youth World Championships" and has four boxers through to the finals being held in Baku, Azerbaijan today. Cuban athletes will contend the bantamweight, featherweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight finals tomorrow.

Two Junior World Champions have a chance to add the world title to their belts tomorrow: the Ukraine's Oleg Nekliudov at light welterweight and Ireland's Joe Ward at middleweight.

The concluding super heavyweight bout will be an all-European affair that pitches France's Tony Yoka against Croatia's Filip Hrgovic.

Host nation Azerbaijan qualified boxers for the finals in the lightest weights, Salman Alizada at light flyweight and Shaban Shahpalangov at flyweight, as two other Azeri hopefuls were eliminated in today's semi-finals.

Light flyweight (48kg)

Volume at the Serhedchi Olympic Complex peaked early this morning, as the loyal supporters of the host nation cheered Salman Alizada to an easy win in the morning's opening bout. Alizada cruised to a 17:3 lead over Uzbekistan's Zohidjon Hoorboyev. He will face Ryan Burnett in the final after the Irishman edged ahead of Cuba's Yosvany Veita Soto 5:3.

"I was told I was up," Burnett said, "so I was told to keep my hands up and that he was going to come running so I had to keep moving, keep a tight defence and if I could nick a point slip in and get it.

"I'm looking forward to the final. I don't worry about the crowd"

Flyweight (51kg)

Azerbaijan's Shaban Shahpalangov danced his way to a convincing 23:11 win over Russia's Vasiliy Vetkin. The thrilling contest saw lightning punches from both sides but when Shahpalangov knew he had such a commanding lead in the final round, his guard was confidently down and he even allowed himself a little jig in the closing seconds.

Puerto Rico's Emmanuel Rodriguez will have to contend with the dance - and the home crowd - in tomorrow's final against the local hero. He also had an easy 10:3 victory, over Egypt's Hesham Mahmoud Abdelaal to put himself in with a chance of a gold medal.

Bantamweight (54kg)

Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana dashed Poland's hopes of a championship title when he defeated Dawid Michelus 11:7. He will meet Shiva Thapa in the final after Indian easily dismissed Romania's Alexandru Marin 10:3

"We've trained really hard and we are very well prepared. We are here to get the gold medal for India and we will," he said.

Featherweight (57kg)

Cuba's Norlan Yera Diaz beat Azerbaijan's Elvin Isayev 14:3 to book his place in the finals against Germany's Artur Bril. The German had a tougher contest against Bulgaria's Denislav Sulekov, eking out a 4:1 victory.

Lightweight (60kg)

India continued its semi-final rout as Krishan Vikas shut out Germany's Thomas Vahrenholt 8:0. Depsite a strong defensive display, Vikas gave no hint on whether this was part of the team strategy.

"My coach tells me the strategy in the ring at the start of the bout according to the opponent," he said. "I don't want to say anything before the final."

Vikas will face Lithuania's Evaldas Petrauskas, who went through to the final after the morning's most thrilling match against Australia's Brett Mather. Both boxers traded flurries of punches and things came to a head in the second round, when both boxers picked up standing eight counts after a heated exchange of blows to the head.

But it was a second head punch from the Lithuanian that put an end to Mather's title hopes as the bout was adjudicated RSC with 2:53 left on the clock in the second round.

Light welterweight (64kg)

The Ukraine's Junior World Champion Oleg Nekliudov enjoyed the day's most emphatic victory when he eliminated Venezuela's Samuel Zapata 16:0. He will face Fabian Maidana in the final. The Argentinean dismissed Lithuania's Ricardas Kuncaitis on a tight 3:0 scoreline.

Welterweight (69kg)

In the closest match of the morning session, Brazil's David Laurencio da Costa took a 9:8 victory over Germany's Denis Radovan and set up a meeting with Asian Youth Champion Ahmad Mamadjanov of Uzbekistan in the final.

"I made a huge effort and did everything to pull ahead," Da Costa said. "I took a three-point lead and managed to win. I want to thank my coach. It was very hard."

Middleweight (75kg)

Only one bout now separates Junior World Champion Joe Ward from Ireland from the Youth World title. He was once again astonishingly calm after his 11:3 victory over Colombia's Palacio Carrillo.

"At the start of the bout I couldn't get going and I fell a bit behind, but then I got better and better," he said.

"He was trying to maul me rather than box and I just tried to keep moving and going forward. He was tiring with the body shots I did and when I looked to the corner Jimmy told me to push on and put in some more body shots

"It's not over yet, but two world titles in a row wouldn't be doing too bad."

Ward will face Australia's Damien Hooper in the final, who is undaunted by the prospect of facing the Junior World Champion.

"It went well," he said. "I thought it was going to be closer fight, but in the last round I figured him out and just kept up what I was doing. I got the points up early and then I just do what I do best and box.

On facing the Junior World Champion in the final, he said: "I'm pretty excited. He thinks he's got it over me already but I think I'll do it. So at the start I'll beat him and he just stands there. I think I can box him all day."

Light heavyweight (81kg)

Panamerican Youth Champion Irosvani Duverger from Cuba remains on course for the world title after a workmanlike 11:0 victory against Russia's Anzor Elpiev. He will face Uzbekistan's Sardorbek Begaliev in the final. Begaliev narrowly outpointed Turkey's Burak Aksin for a chance at the gold medal.

Heavyweight (91kg)

Italy's Fabio Turchi had an injury to the nose that had been confirmed by two AIBA doctors, leaving him no choice but an early exit from the tournament without contesting today's semi-final. Cuba's Lenier Pero Justiz therefore had an unexpected rest ahead of tomorrow's final against Russia's Alexander Ivanov, who beat Umit Patir from Turkey to book his place in the finals.

Super heavyweight (+91kg)

In the day's crowd-pleaser, New Zealand's Joseph Parker and Croatia's Filip Hrgovic traded punches in a closely-matched bout that saw the scores remain within one point of each other for most of the match. In the end it was the Croatian who managed to gain the upper hand in the final round and push ahead to an 8:6 victory, as Parker left the ring nursing an injured nose.

Hrgovic will face France's Tony Yoka in the final. After a close bout yesterday, Yoka today pulled away from the start, conceding only one point on his route to the final.

"I wanted to control the bout to conserve my energy," Yoka said, "as I knew I could end up in the final tomorrow. I put my foot on the brake pedal a little because I could tell I was leading by quite a wide margin - seven points I think - and the main aim was to be in the final. I'll be faster than the other guy tomorrow."

Photo Source: AIBA - 02-05-2010

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