Championships bronze medallist Nishant Dev started his campaign at the 1st World Olympic Boxing Qualifier with an exciting 3-1 win against British boxer Lewis Richardson in Busto Arsizio, Italy.
Fighting in the men’s 71kg category, Nishant didn’t take much time to settle in against the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Richardson and went into the attacking mode from the word go, winning the first round 4-1.
The 23-year-old Indian became even more dominant in the second round with the help of his long reach and delivered some effective right hooks to win the second round 5-0 comfortably.
He put forward a controlled performance in the third round as well and avoided multiple attacks from his opponent while trying to protect his lead and ultimately won the bout with a split decision.
The six-time Asian Championships medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), however, faced a tough challenge against reigning World Champion Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev.
Ruslan, living up to his reputation with his pinpointed punches, penetrated Shiva’s defense multiple times which forced the Indian pugilist to go on a defensive mode right from the start.
The defensive approach didn’t last long as Abdullaev continued his attacking display before the referee stopped the contest in the first round
