Lightweight (≤60 kilograms), Men

England’s Frankie Gavin had won the 2007 World Championship but he withdrew when he knew he could not make weight before the first match. The lightweight class saw a new competitor as Russia’s Aleksey Tishchenko had moved up from the featherweights, where he had won the 2004 Olympic gold medal and the 2005 World Championship. Having also won the 2006 European lightweight gold, he was the exemplar of this division in Beijing, making it to the final by winning four easy decisions. There he met France’s Daouda Sow who had fought at the 2007 Worlds, but had been pummeled in the first round. The Beijing final was dearly fought, however, with Tishchenko leading 10-8 after three rounds. Although Sow scored a point early in the final round to make it 10-9, that was as close as he got, Tishchenko winning 11-9.