Former European champion Zakaryan was in control from the first bell to the last in his light welterweight clash with Ukrainian rival Vyacheslav Kyslytsyn and won handsomely on all judges' scorecards.

Despite a comfortable victory, the Russian praised the efforts of his opponent as he looks forward to the next phase of the competition.

"I believe I have completed the task given to me by my coaches," said Zakaryan.

"We will now analyse this fight and keep on working ahead of upcoming encounters.

"This victory gave me confidence, but I have to admit that my opponent was not simple, he created a number of difficult moments for me as well."

That night began with a surprise result as Bulgaria's Athens 2004 bronze medallist Boris Georgiev lost out to his much less experienced German opponent Artem Harutyunyan.

Harutyunyan caught Georgiev with sharp left hook early on, opening up a cut above the Bulgarian's right eye which stymied his rhythm from then on.

Harutyunyan kept picking off Georgiev with some tidy combinations and emerged with a two-point advantage on all three scorecards despite a late rally in the final round.

Lithuanian Evaldas Petrauskas was the other big name to fall as the number-two seed was beaten on points by Algerian veteran Abdelkader Chadi.

Algerian Abdelkader Chadi connects with a left hook during his surprise victory over London 2012 bronze medallist Evaldas Petrauskas of Lithuania ©AIBA Pro Boxing



London 2012 bronze medal winner Petrauskas tried to use his greater power to force his opponent on the back foot but Chadi was up to the challenge and caught his opponent with a few scoring punches of his own.

When the final bell rang it was too close to call and so it proved as two judges scored the contest level but the third had Chadi ahead by two points.

Mexican Juan Pablo Romero was ahead by two on each of the scorecards after a close and cagey affair with Argentina's Carlos Daniel Aquino.

The flyweights were also out in Novosibirsk and it was another Mexican and Argentinian clash that opened up proceedings as Elias Emiglio took on Fernando Martínez.

An action-packed six rounds ensued as both men threw all they had into getting g the win but it was the Mexican Emiglio who was judges to have landed the more telling blows as he was awarded a unanimous points win.

The second fight on the night was equally explosive but only lasted to the second minute of round two as Algeria's Mohamed Flissi blitzed his French counterpart Redouane Asloum and after hitting the canvas early in the second, Asloum was given a standing eight count.

But Flissi attacked again forcing the referee to step in and call a halt to proceedings.

Algeria's Mohamed Flissi had too much firepower for Redouane Asloum, stopping the Frenchman in the second round ©AIBA Pro Boxing





"It is very significant victory for my country Algeria as I overcame a French boxer," said Flissi.

"I have been training really hard ahead of this fight and it brought its fruits.

"It has been almost two months that I have been getting ready for this night and this preparation included work on my moral, technical and physical conditions.

"At this moment I can say that it is with my heart that I won."

Incheon 2014 Asian Games champion Ilyas Suleimenov of Kazakhstan continued his fine form as he came through relatively comfortably against Uzbekistan's Jasurbek Latipov.

Suleimenov is the number two seed at flyweight and the man ahead of him in the rankings delighted the home fans inside the SKK Sever Arena with a comprehensive win over Beijing 2008 bronze medal winner Vincenzo Picardi.

Two-time world champion Mikhail Aloian demonstrated some superb technical boxing skills as he picked off his opponent time and again with some slick shots to emerge with a resounding victory.

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