Middleweight boxer Wanderley “Holyfield” Pereira placed Brazil in the final of the Boxing World Cup, in Tashkent (Uzbekistan). The 22-year-old from Bahia secured his classification this Friday (12th) by beating the host Alokhon Abdullaev in the semifinal of the under-75 kg category. Also today, Wanderson “Suga” de Oliveira won bronze in the 71 kg division, losing to Uzbek Saidjamshid Jafarov. Wanderley Pereira returns to the ring at 10 am (Brasília time) on Sunday (14) to fight for the gold medal against Cuban Yoenli Martinez. The match will be broadcast live on the website of the Brazilian Olympic Channel. Also known by the nickname of Holyfield, the current champion of the South American Games could win Brazil’s second gold medal in World Cups: the first was won by light middleweight Everton Lopes, in the 64 kg, in the 2011 edition, in Baku ( Azerbaijan). IT’S FINAAAAAAAAAAAL! 🥊🇺🇸Wanderley Pereira (75kg) is in the final of the Boxing World Cup, in Tashkent 🇺🇿 Victory over home athlete Abdullaev in a split decision: 4 to 1And now we’re going in search of the 🥇 pic.twitter.com/hMHxi1NkAa — Team Brasil (@timebrasil) May 12, 2023 This Friday (12), Holyfield reached his third consecutive victory at the Worlds, in his debut at 75kg – the category is not on the program of the Olympics. In the semifinal today, the Brazilian faced difficulties at the beginning of the fight, sketched a reaction, but ended up losing the first round by 3 to 2. Determined, Holyfield regained control of the fight in the second partial and went with everything to the last round, sealing the victory by 4 to 1. Holyfield’s path at the Worlds started overwhelmingly: he debuted with a victory by technical knockout against Fahad Al-Khoori (United Arab Emirates). Then, in the round of 16, he triumphed 5-0 against Kazakh Nurkanat Raiys; and in the quarterfinals he beat the Australian Callum Peters 4 to 3. Excellent walk by Shuga! Twice hitting the crossbar, in addition to the Tokyo Games! Bronze with a taste of duty done! 🇧🇷🥊 https://t.co/mbeRIDlwWm — Conf. Bras. de Boxe (@cbboxe) May 12, 2023 Bronze by Wanderson “Shuga” de Oliveira The 26-year-old light midfielder from Rio de Janeiro won bronze this Friday (12), his first medal at World Cups, after hitting the crossbar in previous editions of 2019 and 2021. Despite the even match in the semifinal of 71 kg, he was beaten by Uzbek Saidjamshid Jafarov by 4 to 1. In boxing, athletes who qualify for the semifinals secure bronze in advance, regardless of the result of the fight. To advance to the semifinals, Shuga overcame three opponents: he debuted with a split victory (4-3) over Nuradin Rustambek Uulu (Kyrgyzstan); repeated the score in the triumph over the Belarusian Aliaksandr Radzionau in the round of 16; and advanced to the quarterfinals after beating Georgian Eskerkhan Madiev 5-0. Olympic cycle for Paris 2024 World Cup scoring has traditionally been decisive in the race for an Olympic berth. However, the International Boxing Association (IBA), organizer of the competition, is suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which prevents it from defining the classification criteria for the 2024 Paris Games. qualifying for Paris 2024 will take place this year at the Pan American Games in Santiago (Chile), from October 20 to November 5.
Agência Brasil
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