Canada's Wyatt Sanford, left, fights Uzbekistan's Ruslan Abdullaev in the men's 63.5kg quarter-final boxing match at the North Paris Arena, in Villepinte on Aug. 1.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Canada is poised to break its decades-long drought in Olympic boxing medals as Wyatt Sanford advances to the semi-finals of the men’s 63.5-kilogram category in Paris.
Sanford, of Kennetcook, N.S., defeated Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev in the quarter-finals on Thursday at North Paris Arena.
There are two bronze medals in boxing, meaning those who make it to Sunday’s semi-finals are guaranteed a spot on the podium.
Abdullaev took a closely contested first round versus Sanford before the top-seeded Canadian made a strong comeback to narrowly win the second round and tie up the match on points.
Sanford secured the third round, ultimately winning the match with a score of 4-1.
Canada has not won an Olympic boxing medal since David Defiagbon’s heavyweight silver in Atlanta in 1996, and has not won the gold in boxing since the Seoul Games in 1988.
“Finally, after 28 years, we will be bringing a medal from boxing back home. Kennetcook wants the gold and I want to give it to them,” said Sanford in a Boxing Canada press release.
“We knew that my opponent would come throwing multiple shots with combinations. Once we figured that we had to cut off his jab with my right hook, he was not throwing as much as he was early on in the fight.”
Sanford started strong in his Olympic debut with a dominant victory over Bulgaria’s Radoslav Rosenov in the round of 16 on Monday.
He will face the winner of the quarter-finals between Hungary’s Richard Kovacs and France’s Sofiane Oumiha on Sunday.
Sanford took home the gold last year at the last Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
Wyatt Sanford celebrates his win over Ruslan Abdullaev.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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