Having already surprised Uzbekistan’s Shakhobiddin Zoirov in the preliminary rounds, Hu defied the odds once more to set up a semi-final encounter with fellow World Series of Boxing (WSB) fighter Yosbany Veitia, the number one seed from Cuba who beat Colombia’s Ceiber Avila Segura.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s WSB star Michael Conlan overwhelmed Azerbaijan's talented 18-year-old Tayfur Aliyev with a series of lethal punches in the second round of their bantamweight contest to set up a semi-final against Belarusian Dzmitry Asanau, who stunned number two seed Andy Cruz Gomez of Cuba with a 3-0 victory.

"I felt nice and relaxed in there and I’m happy with my performance," said Conlan, who has already qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. 

"I came out here for the gold.

"Gold is always my target no matter what tournament I enter."

Despite defeat for Conlan’s fellow countryman Brendan Irvine in his light flyweight bout against Cuba’s Joahnys Argilagos,  victories for Ireland also came through light heavyweight Joseph Ward against Belarus’ Mikhail Dauhaliavets, and middleweight Michael O’Reilly against defending world champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan.

In the bout of the afternoon, O’Reilly held off a stern challenge from his young opponent to set up a semi-final with Uzbekistan's Bektemir Melikuziev, a 2-1 winner against number three seed Petr Khamukov of Russia.

"We absolutely believed that Michael could beat the current world champion, but it was nerve-racking stuff, edge of the seat," said Ireland’s head coach Billy Walsh.

"We knew we couldn’t go chasing this guy.

"Michael counter-punched a counter-puncher today.

"It was a brilliant win."

Uzbekistan’s Rustam Tulaganov looked relaxed going into his heavyweight bout against number one seed Erislandy Savon, but despite pushing his Cuban opponent hard, and having him on the canvas in the third round, Savon made it through to the semi-finals by virtue of a 3-0 triumph.

At the same time over in Ring B, Russia's Evgeny Tishchenko made light work of The Netherlands’ Roy Korving to earn a heavyweight semi-final against Ukraine’s Gevorg Manukian, who beat number two seed Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan.

Earlier in the afternoon session, the home crowd had got right behind their bantamweight medal hope Hakan Erseker, but the Qatari couldn’t overcome India’s Shiva Thapa, who must now do battle with Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev.

Defending lightweight world champion Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba will go up against Uzbekistan’s Elnur Abduraimov in the semi-finals on Monday (October 12) after overcoming Ukrainian Tymur Beliak in the evening session. 

Albert Selimov’s defeat of Frenchman Sofiane Oumiha will see the Azerbaijani meet Brazil’s in-form Robson Donato Conceicao, who proved too fast for Great Britain’s Joseph Cordina.

Elshod Rasulov could be the man to continue Uzbekistan’s remarkable run of light heavyweight world champions after overcoming number one seed Adilbek Niyazymbetov in their match-up.

At the same time over in Ring B, Russia’s Pavel Silyagin ended Dutchman Peter Müllenberg’s campaign and will now tackle Cuba’s crowd favourite Julio La Cruz, who triumphed against Croatia's Hrvoje Sep, in the semi-final.

Mighty Kazakh Ivan Dychko made light work of his super heavyweight quarter-final with German Florian Schulz and faces Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov, a 3-0 winner against Jordan's Hussein Ishaish, in two days’ time.

Britain’s Joe Joyce and Frenchman Tony Yoka made it through testing bouts against Turkey’s Ali Demirezen and Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic respectively and will no doubt appreciate a rest day before their semi-final showdown on Monday.

The first round of semi-finals is due to take place tomorrow with the light flyweights, bantamweights, light welterweights, middleweights and heavyweights all in action.



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