TRINIDAD and Tobago boxer Nigel Paul advanced to the quarterfinals of the super heavyweight +92kg category of the International Boxing Association Men's World Boxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on Sunday.
Paul, the only man standing for TT at the championships, defeated Ayoub Ghadfa Drissi El Aissaoui of Spain on points in the round of 16.
Paul won the fight 4-1 as four judges gave the TT boxer a 29-28 victory. Ghadfa won 29-28 according to the fifth judge.
Ghadfa was swinging from the opening bell, but Paul fighting in the red corner responded with punches of his own.
Fifty seconds into the fight Paul, who was bigger and taller than Ghadfa, connected with an uppercut with led to a standing count by the referee.
Both boxers were not shy to throw punches as the first round was intensely contested throughout.
At the end of round one three of the five judges had Paul in front.
Round two started just as the first did with Ghadfa coming out swinging with a flurry of punches, but Paul fought back and landed a couple of blows that led to another standing count.
Despite the attack from Ghadfa, Paul demonstrated his defensive ability by blocking punches from the Spaniard.
At the end of round two, there was little separating the boxers as four judges had the match even at 19-19 and one judge had Paul in front 20-18.
The third and final round did not begin with the same intensity. After Ghadfa's mouthpiece fell out which led to a short delay, Paul was more aggressive as the boxers battled for a spot in the quarterfinals.
With 45 seconds remaining, Paul started to attack the tiring Ghadfa.
In the end, Paul did enough to grab the win.
On Thursday, Paul won his opening fight against Nelson Hysa of Albania.
Paul will fight in the quarterfinals on Tuesday against Berat Acar of Turkey.
The other four fighters who represented TT at the championships lost their opening bout. They included 2020 Olympian Aaron Prince (middleweight 71-75kg), Blessing Waldropt (light-welterweight 60-63.5kg), Donnel Phillip (lightweight 57-60kg) and Anthony Joseph (featherweight 54-57kg).
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