Ukraine’s Oleksandr Khyzhniak won a gold medal in the men’s middleweight category by split decision at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday night. This is Ukraine’s third gold medal in Paris 2024.
The 29-year-old Ukrainian boxer defeated 24-year-old boxer Nurbek Oralbay from Kazakhstan, the current world champion in the 80 kg weight category, 3-2.
For the second time in his career, Khyzhnyak reached the final of the Olympic Games in the 80 kg weight class. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Oleksandr Khyzhniak won a silver medal in the 75 kg weight class. He was one step away from winning a gold medal: before the decisive third round, he was leading on points, but eventually lost by controversial knockout.
Khyzhniak reached the final of the 2024 Olympics with three victories. In the last fight, the Ukrainian boxer defeated Olympic champion Arlen Lopez, turning the tide of the fight after losing the first round.
Khyzhniak’s opponent, Oralbay, is the current world champion in the 80 kg category. However, in the only fight between the boxers, which took place in February 2023, the Ukrainian won (by a split decision).
Kazakhstan’s Nurbek Oralbay won silver, and two-time Olympic champion Arlen Lopez Cardona from Cuba and Christian Pinales from the Dominican Republic won bronze.
All Ukrainian Olympic boxing champions
(1996) Volodymyr Klychko – over 91 kg.
(2008) Vasyl Lomachenko – up to 57 kg; (2012) – up to 60 kg.
(2012) Oleksandr Usyk – up to 91 kg.
(2024) Oleksandr Khyzhnyak – up to 80 kg.
Source: The Gaze
