Paris 2024 Olympics - Boxing - Men's 80kg - Victory Ceremony - Roland-Garros Stadium, Paris, France - August 07, 2024. Gold medallist Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine poses with his medal. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra
PARIS (Reuters) -Ukraine's Oleksandr Khyzhniak won the middleweight boxing gold by split decision against Kazakh Nurbek Oralbay at the Olympics on Wednesday to make up for his near miss at the Tokyo Games.
Oralbay took the men's silver medal, while Cuba's twice Olympic champion Arlen Lopez Cardona and Cristian Pinales of the Dominican Republic won bronze.
Khyzhniak, Tokyo silver medallist and former world champion, has been in incredible form in Paris, dispatching Pylyp Akilov and Wanderley Pereira with ease in the earlier rounds before claiming a close win over Lopez Cardona.
Three years ago in Tokyo, the Ukrainian was seconds away from winning the final before being caught with a powerful left that sent him crashing to the canvas and handed the gold medal to Brazilian Hebert Sousa instead.
This time around, there was no late slip-up.
In his trademark style, Khyzhniak pressed forward with urgency from the first bell and overwhelmed Oralbay with the sheer volume of his punches to edge the first round despite the Kazakh landing a few good shots.
The bout became an all-out slugfest in the second round as Oralbay upped his intensity in a desperate attempt to keep up with the Ukrainian, with the scores tied at 2-2 heading into the decider.
With blood gushing from his nose, Oralbay bravely kept going forward in the final round and was dealt serious punishment, just about managing to stay on his feet until the end.
When the final bell rang, Khyzhniak knew he had done enough and sprinted around the ring in celebration, before he was announced as the winner by a 3-2 decision.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy congratulated Khyzhniak, writing on Telegram: "Thank you for having the strength, the confidence and for this important victory.
"We continue to support all our athletes. We are cheering for Ukraine, we are cheering for Ukrainians."
To make his win even sweeter, Khyzhniak is set to receive a payout from former undisputed heavyweight champion and compatriot Oleksandr Usyk, who pledged to give Ukrainians prize money out of his own pocket if they made it on to the podium.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Paris, additional reporting by Ronald Popeski; Editing by Ken Ferris and Clare Fallon)
