PARIS (AP) — Oleksandr Khyzhniak was one minute away from winning an Olympic gold medal three years ago when he was rocked by one miraculous punch. Khyzhniak went down, the fight was stopped and the most fearsome boxer in Tokyo had to settle for silver.
The middleweight from Ukraine decided he would wait three years to make it right. Khyzhniak got his epic redemption Wednesday night at the Paris Games with a gold medal finally around his neck — but only after he paid for it in time, sweat and pain.
Khyzhniak beat Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan 3:2 in a thrilling final at Roland Garros, securing the championship that evaded him in heartbreaking fashion in Tokyo. The fighters unloaded on each other for three action-packed rounds, but Khyzhniak clinched the win by dominating a final three minutes filled with a jaw-dropping number of uppercuts, combinations and power punches for an Olympic fight.
When Khyzhniak’s hand was raised, the 29-year-old dropped to his knees in cathartic relief. Even though he is an obvious blue-chip professional prospect, Khyzhniak put any other chapters of his life on hold because he was determined to do what he couldn’t in Tokyo.
Khyzhniak spent the last three years thinking about his loss to Hebert Sousa of Brazil, a game competitor who clearly wasn’t the best middleweight in a stacked division in Tokyo. Khyzhniak was up 20-18 on all five cards after two rounds in their gold medal bout, meaning he only had to avoid a stoppage or a point deduction to win.
But Khyzhniak simply couldn’t stop himself from coming forward relentlessly. He knows no way to fight other than to throw as many punches as his arms can muster for nine minutes of bruising, bleeding pressure.
So Khyzhniak kept coming forward, and the artful Sousa floored him with what might have been just a flash knockdown in the pros but was enough to persuade the Olympic referee to stop the bout.
After the loss, Khyzhniak devoted himself to an Olympic comeback, winning every amateur bout he took since Tokyo. When the Olympics eliminated the 75-kilogram division in which Khyzhniak fought in Tokyo, he even moved up to 80 kilograms — now called middleweight.
Although he has been probably the most exciting fighter in his second Olympics, Khyzhniak didn’t steamroll through his four bouts in Paris. He was tested in his early fights before he reached the semifinals against Arlen López, the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba.
The veteran amateurs put on a memorable show worthy of their combined star power, but Khyzhniak won with another phenomenal third round. He simply wouldn’t stop pressuring López, who finally ran out of stratagems to keep the Ukrainian star off him.
In the final, Khyzhniak faced a dynamic prospect in the 24-year-old Oralbay, whose twin brother also fought at Paris. Oralbay had ample skill and punching power to challenge Khyzhniak, and the fighters were essentially even on the scorecards heading to the third round.
And what a round it turned out to be.
Oralbay bled from a cut near his right eye early in the third, but the fighters unloaded on each other for three minutes. All five judges favored Khzyhniak, who snapped Oralbay’s head back on his neck multiple times with pinpoint-perfect uppercuts.
Khyzhniak was the second gold medal winner at Roland Garros on Wednesday, joining Erislandy Álvarez of Cuba. Álvarez edged Sofiane Oumiha of France 3:2 in an exciting lightweight bout — but it couldn’t match the emotion and savagery on display between Khyzhniak and Oralbay, who fights one weight class below his twin brother.
Earlier on the card, Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan advanced to the women’s featherweight gold medal bout with her third straight victory while dealing with widespread scrutiny regarding misconceptions about her gender.
Tokyo gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan shut out Nelvie Tiafack of Germany to move within one victory of becoming the first two-time super heavyweight gold medalist in Olympic history. The 30-year-old Jalolov, a 14-0 professional, will fight Ayoub Ghadfa of Spain for gold.
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