Paris Olympics: Boxing champ Jalolov ‘runs like a cat’ to reach semis

Australia’s Teremoana Teremoana (in red) fights against Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov (in blue) in the men’s +92kg quarter-final boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the North Paris Arena, in Villepinte on August 2, 2024. (Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP)

Bakhodir Jalolov marched towards a second Olympic gold as he outfoxed Teremoana Teremoana in a super-heavyweight quarterfinal on Friday, with the beaten Australian accusing him of “running like a cat”.

“I want to take a second gold and I will not stop until I do,” vowed the Uzbek hero Jalolov, who has won all 14 of his professional fights by knockout and has two amateur world titles to his name.

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Last year the 30-year-old southpaw dispatched Teremoana in the round of 16 at the world championships.

The 26-year-old Australian turned up in Paris looking fitter and flattened Ukrainian Dmytro Lovchynskyi inside three minutes in his opening bout.

He promised “someone’s going to get knocked out” when he met Jalolov.

Jalolov was the taller man by three centimetres (one inch) but he was also lighter on his feet and more accurate with the few punches he threw. That small edge earned him a unanimous decision from the five judges.

“In the Olympics there is no easy work,” Jalolov said. “Only hard work.”

Teremoana, who was the more busy of the two fighters, was not happy with the verdict.

“I thought I won. I scored a bit more, I reckon. I don’t know what the judges were watching,” he said before adding: “You got to just take it into your own hands, be dominant. Unfortunately, I thought I did.”

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In the semi-finals Jalolov will face 25-year-old German Nelvie Raman Tiafack, who said it felt “amazing” to be assured of an Olympic medal after beating Italian Diego Lenzi on a unanimous points decision.

Semi-finalists are assured of at least bronze.

“I want to go pro after these Olympics and fighting at Roland Garros would be a glimpse into the future at what it would be like to fight on the biggest stage,” he said.

Jalolov said he was ready, ahead of the action moving from the North Paris Arena to the home of tennis in the French capital.

“It’ll be a ring show,” he said. “Next the double.”