Michael Conlan became Ireland's first-ever male world boxing champion after claiming bantamweight gold in Qatar's capital ©AIBA/Facebook

Michael Conlan became the first-ever Irishman to claim a gold medal at the International Boxing Association (AIBA) World Championships after beating Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev to the top of the bantamweight podium here.

Akhmadaliev was immediately on the front foot, but the Irish captain responded well in the second round and did enough to win the bout by unanimous decision, despite hitting the canvas in the third.

"I came out for the gold medal and I got it," said Conlan.

"I’m absolutely delighted, thrilled.

"I would like to thank my coaches and my family and everyone for the tremendous support here all week - the supporters were fantastic.

"I knew he [Akhmadaliev] was going to be tough and that’s the way it turned out.

"I’ll be going to Rio [the 2016 Olympic Games] as the world champion.

"I’ll have to wait for that to sink in."

In the first final of the evening, World Series of Boxing star Vasilii Egorov of Russia faced off against fleet-footed Cuban Joahnys Argilagos, whose greater agility proved decisive in all three rounds of their light flyweight contest. 

Egorov’s compatriot Vitaly Dunaytsev did just enough in the opening rounds against Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnazarov to take the light welterweight gold medal, adding to the EUBC European crown he won earlier this year in Samokov, Bulgaria.

Russia's Evgeny Tishchenko (blue) beat Cuba's Erislandy Savon (red) to the heavyweight gold medal
Russia's Evgeny Tishchenko (blue) beat Cuba's Erislandy Savon (red) to the heavyweight gold medal ©AIBA/Facebook

Previously unbeaten Bektemir Melikuziev’s counter-attacking style had taken him all the way to the middleweight final against Cuba’s Arlen Lopez.

The Uzbek was not given the opportunities to score enough meaningful punches in the first two rounds however, and, despite a late rally, it was Lopez who took the title.

Lopez’s fellow countryman Erislandy Savon relied heavily on his strong counter punches against Russian Evgeny Tishchenko in the opening round of the heavyweight final.

Tishchenko’s front-foot attack gave him the advantage before Savon came back strongly in round two, but it was not  to be the Cuban’s night as his Russian opponent triumphed by unanimous decision.

"This is a huge achievement - for me to become world champion is incredible," said Tishchenko.

"The Cuban team is so strong and I knew it was going to be a tough fight.

"It could have gone either way, but I’m happy to have come out on top and with the gold medal - and a huge thank you to all my fans here."

Earlier in the session, box-offs between four bronze medallists saw Rio 2016 Olympic qualification move a huge step closer for Belarusian bantamweight Dzmitry Asanau and Egyptian middleweight Hosam Abdin at the expense of India’s Shiva Thapa and Ireland’s Michael O’Reilly respectively.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Wuttichai Masuk was awarded a walkover win, with Cuban Yasniel Toledo Lopez unable to compete for medical reasons.

Tomorrow’s finals are due to see gold medals decided in the flyweight, lightweight, welterweight, light heavyweight and super heavyweight divisions, bringing down the curtain on this year’s World Championships.

Ukraine's former heavyweight world champion Vitali Klitschko is expected to be ringside for the bouts.


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