Thapa knocks out Hamout; double delight for India in World Boxing Championship 2015
India’s Shiva Thapa kayoed Moroccan Hamout Mohamed in a stunning bout to enter the bantam 56kg quarterfinals of the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championship in Doha. Feisty Thapa brought his opponent to the ground in the 26th second of round 3 and punched his fists in the air in delight.
It was a double delight for India with Vikas Krishan also advancing to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 verdict on points over Poland’s Tomasz Jablonski in the middle weight 75kg category.
Asian championship bronze medallist Thapa was pinned to a corner in the opening round by the fancied Moroccan, who is the reigning African Confederation champion. But the Indian slowly found his feet and, in fact, looked the better of the two in the second round as he punched on relentlessly.
The third round started with both the fighters going all out as they traded heavy punches before Thapa, quarterfinalist in the 2013 World Championship, knocked his opponent out with a right hook followed by a left that dropped his opponent down in a daze.
Late on Wednesday, Madan Lal became the third Indian pugilist after Manoj Kumar (light welter 64kg) and Laishram Devendro Singh (light fly 49kg) to lose in the opening round, when he went down to Italian World and Olympic bronze medallist Vincenzo Picardi, 0-3 on points in the men’s fly 52kg section.
The sixth and last member of the Indian contingent, Satish Kumar will open his campaign against a powerful and experienced boxer, Turkish AIBA Pro Boxing competitor Ali Eren Demirezen in the men’s super heavy +91kg category on Friday.
