The technique and class on show was of a different level and it was almost impossible to call come the final bell.

It was the Armenian who was eventually awarded the win with each judge scoring the fight 29:28 in his favour.

England's Yafai Gamal was narrowly beaten by Avagyan Aram in a thrilling encounter on day four of the World Boxing Championships in Almaty



But Yafai can leave the competition with his head held high after that performance with Avagyan looking like a serious contender for the title.

One man looking to stop the Armenian will be Turkey's Selcuk Eker, who beat American Eduardo Castellon in his first bout of the Championships.

The fight got off to a relatively quiet start with each getting the feel of their opponent.

Eker notched it up a gear in the second however, throwing a barrage of punches at Castellon in an effort to gain the upper hand.

This onslaught continued throughout much of the second round with Castellon getting caught badly on a number of occasions.

As the second round neared its conclusion it looked as though the Turk had punched himself out as he started to slow and lose much of his momentum.

He managed to hold it together in the third however and despite a frantic final round he sealed the win with a 3:0 decision from the judges.

Selcuk Eker of Turkey came out on top in his bout against Eduardo Castellon of the US



"Road to Dream" boxer, Juan Donis, got his competition up and running in magnificent style with a win over Pakistan's Nadir Khan.

The boxer from Guatemala dropped his opponent twice in the second round, landing a huge body shot to cut Khan down for the second.

Israel's Konstantin Snigour was on the wrong end of an upset in his opening bout with Mongolia's Shinebayar Narmandakh at middleweight,

Snigour, who boxes for the Astana Arlans, was ranked sixth in the WSB last season and came into the fight as the firm favourite.

Narmandakh must have left the script at home however as he landed two huge blows in the first round, opening a cut on Snigour, and showing the crowd that he was not just there to make up the numbers.

Narmandakh continued to frustrate Snigour who struggled to cope with his taller opponent, as he slipped to a surprise defeat as the WSB boxers continued to struggle.

Mongolian boxer Shinebayar Narmandakh caused the biggest upset of the day beating Israeli boxer Konstantin Snigour



With that being said Brian Gonazales, who made his debut for the Mexico Guerreros in the summer, was impressive in his opening bout against Tafari Ebanks of the Cayman Islands.

The Mexican bantamweight did not get off to the best of starts seeming to bide his time in the opening round, allowing Ebanks to build in confidence.

Gonzales must have seen the error in his ways as he readied himself for the second round and soon cranked up the heat on his opponent.

The second round saw him throwing some thunderous shots from Gonzales which really rocked Ebanks, who tried unsuccessfully to return fire and had to accept defeat.

"He was a tough opponent, but of course, as it's the World Championships, everyone here is tough", said Gonzales.

"He was a little bit less experienced than me but man he was strong and quick on his feet.

"It was the first bout of the event, so naturally I felt a bit nervous.

"But I feel good now.

"I still need to do a lot of work on my body shots so they are coming off a bit more smoothly.

"That's important to get right if I'm going to get a good result".

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
October 2013: Tough first bout for Michel at World Boxing Championships

October 2013: Israeli causes big upset at World Boxing Championships

October 2013: AIBA World Boxing Championships gets underway in Almatay