Selby convincingly beat his rival in the first bout of the trilogy with a 26-12 victory but secured victory the next day in rather anti-climactic circumstances as Yafai failed to make weight before the second and was therefore handed a technical defeat, giving the Welshman a 2-0 win.

"I'm over the moon, it still hasn't hit me yet," said Selby.

"It'll hit me when I get home.

The box-off took place due to the fact both fighters made it through to the quarter-final at the 2011 International Boxing Association (AIBA) World Championships in Baku last month and therefore achieved the qualifying standard for London 2012 for the weight.

Neither won gold, which would have ensured automatic qualification, but Selby only just missed out as the European champion made it right through to the final before the 22-year-old from Barry narrowly lost 13-12 to the world number one, Misha Aloyan, from Russia and was forced to settle for the silver medal.

Yafai, meanwhile, was beaten by the American star Rau'Shee Warren at the quarter-final stage as the 22-year-old from Birmingham went down 14-9 to the 2007 world champion.

Selby had lost in his two previous fights against Yafai but, in the first match of the box-off, he took the initiative when he caught his rival off-guard with a punch that sent his fellow 22-year-old stumbling to the canvas.

Selby held on for a comfortable victory over his rival from Birmingham, who picked up a hand injury in the fight that hindered his effort to make weight the next day.

"We normally have an optimal boxing weight but I knew I had to be strong for this fight and put an extra bit of weight on for an extra bit of power," said Yafai.

"I hurt my hand in the first fight and my hand swelled up and I had a bruised knuckle.

"I spent a lot of time getting that seen to by doctors and physios and by the time I got back to the hotel I was 1.7kg over.

"I tried to get most of it off last night and I did, and then I had 0.9 to get off this morning.

"We did train this morning for an hour and a half, we had two attempts this morning at making the weight but the scales closed at half-past-nine, and I lost out by 300g.

"I just want to say well done to Andrew, I wish him all the best and I hope he gets a gold for Great Britain."

The British Amateur Boxing Association's performance director, Rob McCracken added: "It is very unfortunate that the contest has had to be settled in this way because they are two great boxers and both deserved to go the Olympics.


"It is a great achievement by Andrew, who has boxed superbly this year, but at the same time I am very disappointed for Khalid."

Selby become the fifth British boxer to book a spot at London 2012 as the team qualified in five of the weight categories for the Olympics after their stellar performance in Baku that ensured the team claimed three World Championship silver medals in addition to a bronze.

The World Championship silver medallist Luke Campbell has taken the bantamweight spot while Anthony Joshua, who also won silver in Baku, will be the super-heavyweight.

Tom Stalker has the light-welterweight place after winning World Championship bronze while the welterweight Fred Evans secured his 2012 berth by reaching the last eight in Azerbaijan before losing to Egidijus Kavaliauskas of Lithuania.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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