Welterweight (≤69 kilograms), Men

Mohammed Rabii of Morocco was the only African boxer to win gold at the 2015 World Championships and as such was the fighter from that continent to be a #1 seed at Rio. He reached the semi-final before being eliminated by Shakhram Giyasov of Uzbekistan who had previously defeated reigning light-welterweight champion Roniel Iglesias.

The second semi-final had a touch of drama surrounding the outcome. Daniyar Yeleusinov of Kazakhstan and Souleymane Cissokho of France accidentally clashed heads in the second round leaving the Kazakh with a deep cut above the eye and blood pouring down his face. The fight was immediately stopped for medical reasons and the bout went to the judges’ scorecards, which had Yeleusinov ahead on points at the time.

With only two days to the final there was no time for the cut to have healed completely but Yeleusinov was still allowed to step into the ring with Giyasov to contest the gold medal. The Kazakh fought a strategically defensive fight but his opponent was still able to open the cut midway through the second round. However Yeleusinov’s experience was able to keep him out of harm’s way and enable him to win his country’s fourth successive gold medal at the weight.