De la Cruz and Shahbakhsh were light weight bronze medallists at the Belgrade 2021 World Championships.

The Dominican Republic boxer, who was up against Tegshjargalyn Enkhtör of Mongolia, was playing the waiting game, focusing below the belt.

The strategy, along with some bolo punches, worked brilliantly for the De la Cruz - a Pan American Games bronze medallist in Lima in 2019 - as he registered a 5-0 victory via unanimous decision.  

Shahbakhsh, the first Iranian to win a world medal, was fighting Abubakr Murodzoda of Tajikistan.

The 23-year-old also won 5-0 and performed some strong moves, including a blow that put Murodzoda on the floor.

But not all world medallists managed to secure a victory.

Nishant Dev of India, pitted against World Championships bronze medallist Sarkhan Aliyev of Azerbaijan, did really well, countering and restricting his opponent to take round one.

The Indian then dominated the second round as Aliyev looked uncomfortable.

Finally, Dev did a combination of punches after a dodge in round three that have him a huge win in the light middleweight class. 

Birmingham 2022 silver medallist Stephen Zimba of Zambia also suffered a shock exit against José Rodríguez of Ecuador in the light middleweight category.

Rodríguez countered everything the Commonwealth Games medallist came up with to win the bout.

For the hosts, two-time Asian champion Saidjamshid Jafarov powered through with a 5-0 win over Tiago Muxanga of Mozambique.

European lightweight silver medallist José Quiles of Spain benefitted against Krenar Zeneli of Albania when referee stopped contest (RSC) during round three.

It was recurring theme on day three as two bouts in the morning session and 13 in the evening session had RSC decisions.

Mujibillo Tursunov of Uzbekistan was among those to benefit from that.

Tursunov, had a routine win over Varinder Singh of India yesterday, progressed when an RSC decision was made during his bout against Marry Corr of Gambia.

Competition is due to continue tomorrow.