Ireland's John Joe Nevin has ousted Kanat Abutalipov of Kazakhstan to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Olympic bantamweight class.
Nevin bided his time in the opening round, wary of the Kazakh's counter-punching prowess.
The Irishman was keeping well out of range and landed with a few decent scoring shots to take a 5-2 lead heading into the second.
Nevin was keeping a cool head and timing his punches nicely, picking Abutalipov off as he tried to force the issue.
Abutalipov did clip Nevin with a short jab in the closing stages of the second, which just reminded him to stay on his toes.
The Kazakh found himself trailing by five heading into the decider and was forced to attack in order to keep his Olympic dream alive.
That suited Nevin, who came under some pressure but dealt with it well, evading Abutalipov's shots to take a 15-10 verdict.
Michael Penkman
