Bakhodir Jalolov repeats as Olympic super heavyweight champ, earning Uzbekistan 5th gold

“The Big Uzbek” brought a close to a big Olympics campaign in Paris for the Uzbekistan team.

Bakhodir Jalolov repeated as the Olympics super heavyweight champion on Saturday, defeating Spain’s Ayoub Ghadfa by unanimous decision at Roland Garros to cap off a dominant run by Uzbekistan at the 2024 Games, tallying five gold medals.

Jalolov, a 6’7” southpaw with a 14-0 (14 knockouts) pro record, had won the gold at the Tokyo Games as well.

The bout was one-sided from the opening bell as Jalolov targeted Ghadfa’s stationary head with straight left hands which landed with regularity. Two of those left hands produced two standing eight counts in the final minute of the opening round.

Jalolov continued to box from the outside, countering Ghadfa’s jab with straight lefts down the middle, remaining in cruise control for the remainder of the stanza. With the bout already out of reach, Ghadfa turned the aggression up another notch while Jalolov boxed comfortably, landing counterpunches but not taking any chances.

The Uzbekistan performance was a major improvement for the central Asian country, which won just one boxing gold in Tokyo and just three golds total in all sports. The five gold haul surpassed even their impressive campaign at the 2016 Olympics, where they won three golds, two silvers and two bronzes, reestablishing Uzbekistan as an amateur boxing powerhouse.

In addition to the golds won by Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev (71kg), Lazizbek Mullojonov (92kg) and Hasanboy Dusmatov (51kg) in earlier days, Uzbekistan also added gold in the men’s 57kg division as Abdumalik Khalokov defeated Munarbek Seiitbek Uulu of Kyrgyzstan by a 5-0 decision.

In the two remaining gold medal matches on Saturday, China’s Li Qian defeated Atheyna Bibeichi Bylon of Panama by 4-1 decision in the women’s 75kg final, and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting defeated Poland’s Julia Szeremeta by 5-0 decision to win the women’s 57kg gold.

China, which had three golds and two silvers, came in second in the Olympic boxing medal tally, followed by Taiwan, with a gold and two bronzes and Cuba, which had one gold and one bronze.

Boxing, which has been on the Olympic curriculum since 1904, has not yet been added to the Olympic schedule for Los Angeles 2028 as a new governing body has yet to be recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Boxing had previously been governed by the International Boxing Association, formerly known as AIBA, but the Russia based organization has not overseen Olympic boxing since 2016, having been permanently suspended due to governance and financial scandals.

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