Durkacz had no chance against the Olympic tournament favorite

On the second day of the men’s Olympic boxing tournament in Tokyo, our “lone representative,” Damian Durkacz (63 kg), entered the ring. He faced a very difficult task. In the round of 32, he met one of the medal favorites, Russian Gabil Mamedov, who was competing under the Olympic flag. The 27-year-old from Orenburg has won two European Championship silver medals, in 2017 and 2019. Unfortunately, he clearly dominated in the ring and, in the opinion of all the judges, won every round against the Pole, who is five years younger.

We have now been waiting almost 13 years for a Polish boxer to win an Olympic bout. The last Polish representative to achieve this was Łukasz Maszczyk (48 kg) at the Beijing Games. In 2008, he won two bouts there, the last of them taking place on August 16 against Japhet Uutoni of Namibia. For Damian Durkacz, simply competing in Tokyo is a major achievement. Hopefully, it will pay dividends in three years at the Paris Games.

Round-of-32 results [winners listed first]

52 KG
Yuberjen Martinez (Colombia) – Rajab Mahommed (Botswana) 5-0
Hu Jianguan (China) – Sakhil Alakhverdovi (Georgia) 5-0
Ryomei Tanaka (Japan) – Yoel Finol (Venezuela) 5-0
Shakhobidin Zoirov (Uzbekistan) – Batuhan Ciftci (Turkey) 5-0
Carlo Paalam (Philippines) – Brendan Irvine (Ireland) 4-1
Sulemanu Tetteh (Ghana) – Rodrigo Marte (Dominican Republic) 3-2
Patrick Chinyemba (Zambia) – Alex Winwood (Australia) 4-1
Galal Yafai (Great Britain) – Koryun Soghomonyan (Armenia) RSC
Daniel Asenov (Bulgaria) – Cosmin-Petre Girleanu (Romania) 5-0
Gabriel Escobar (Spain) – Ramon Quiroga (Argentina) 5-0
Saken Bibossinov (Kazakhstan) – Yankiel Rivera (Puerto Rico) 4-1

57 KG
Kurt Walker (Ireland) – Jose Quiles (Spain) 5-0
Serik Temirzhanov (Kazakhstan) – Roland Galos (Hungary) 5-0
Duke Ragan (USA) – Samuel Kistohurry (France) 3-2
Jean Caicedo (Ecuador) – Mykola Butsenko (Ukraine) 3-2
Ceiber Avila (Colombia) – Mohammad Alwadi (Jordan) 5-0
Daniyal Shahbaksh (Iran) – Mohamed Hamout (Morocco) 5-0
Chatchai Butdee (Thailand) – Peter McGrail (Great Britain) 5-0
Mirco Jehiel Cuello (Argentina) – Hamsat Shadalov (Germany) 3-2
Duong Van Nguyen (Vietnam) – Tayfur Aliyev (Azerbaijan) 3-2
Tsendbaatar Erdenebat (Mongolia) – Nicholas Okoth (Kenya) 3-2
Alexy de la Cruz (Dominican Republic) – Keevin Allicock (Guyana) 5-0

63 KG
Keyshawn Davis (USA) – Enrico Lacruz (Netherlands) 5-0
Richarno Colin (Mauritius) – Abdelhaq Nadir (Morocco) 4-1
Gabil Mamedov (Russia) – Damian Durkacz (Poland) 5-0
Hovhannes Bachkov (Armenia) – Alston Ryan (Antigua) 5-0
Javid Chalabiyev (Azerbaijan) – Yaroslav Khartsyz (Ukraine) 5-0
Bakhodur Usmonov (Tajikistan) – Leonel de los Santos Nunez (Dominican Republic) 4-1
Elnur Abduraimov (Uzbekistan) – Chinzorig Baatarsukh (Mongolia) 4-1
Luke McCormack (Great Britain) – Manish Kaushik (India) 4-1
Dzmitry Asanau (Belarus) – Obada Al-Kasbeh (Jordan) 5-0
Wanderson de Oliveira (Brazil) – Wessam Salamana (Syria) 5-0
Zakir Safiullin (Kazakhstan) – Leodan Pezo Saboya (Peru) 5-0
Daisuke Narimatsu (Japan) – Fiston Mbaya Mulumba (DR Congo) 5-0
Harry Garside (Australia) – John Ume (Papua New Guinea) 5-0

69 KG
Aliaksandr Radzionau (Belarus) – Necat Ekinci (Turkey) 3-2
Albert Mengue Ayissi (Cameroon) – Thabiso Dlamini (Eswatini) RSC 3
Merven Clair (Mauritius) – Wyatt Sanford (Canada) 5-0
Sewonrets Okazawa (Japan) – Vikas Krishan (India) 5-0
Delante Johnson (USA) – Brian Arregui (Argentina) 3-2
Eskerkhan Madiev (Georgia) – Lorenzo Sotomayor (Azerbaijan) RSC 1 (injury)
Stephen Zimba (Zambia) – Marion Ah Tong (Samoa) 5-0

75 KG
Yuito Moriwaki (Japan) – Seyeshanin Mousavi (Iran) 3-2
Francisco Veron (Argentina) – Adam Chartoi (Sweden) 5-0
Euri Cedeno (Dominican Republic) – Eldric Sella (Refugee Team) RSC
Andrej Csemez (Slovakia) – Aaron Prince (Trinidad and Tobago)
Younes Nemouchi (Algeria) – Kavuma Ssemujji (Uganda) 5-0
Erbieke Tuoheta (China) – Asish Kumar (India) 5-0
Fanat Kakhramonov (Uzbekistan) – Giorgi Kharabadze (Georgia) 5-0
Tshama Mwenekbwe (DR Congo) – Dieudonne Seyi (Cameroon) 3-2
Troy Isley (USA) – Vitali Bandarenka (Belarus) 5-0

81 KG
Imam Khatayev (Russia) – Mohamed Assaghir (Morocco) RSC 3
Daxian Cheng (China) – Shabbos Negmatulloev (Tajikistan) 4-1
Benjamin Whittaker (Great Britain) – Jorge Luis Vivas (Colombia) 4-1
Mohammed Houmri (Algeria) – Nalek Korbaj (Venezuela) 3-2
Luka Plantic (Croatia) – Odai Al-Hindawi (Jordan) 3-2
Dilshot Ruzmetov (Uzbekistan) – Emmet Brennan (Ireland) 5-0

91 KG
Abdelhafid Benchabla (Algeria) – Sanjar Tursunov (Uzbekistan) 4-1
Mahammad Abdulllayev (Azerbaijan) – Denis Latypov (Bahrain) 3-1