Miroslav Kapuler Ishchenko advanced to the round of 32 in the IBA 2023 Men's Amateur World Champions with a decision victory over Esad Avdic. The light middleweight from Israel controlled nearly all of the action again his Austrian foe.
A southpaw, Kapuler boxed beautifully in the first round. He stunned Avdic with a clean left to punctuate a combination. The left precipitated a standing eight count. Miroslav's defense was nearly impenetrable thanks to effective upper-body movement and half-steps in and out.
Kapuler (3-0 as a pro) made one mistake in the first and it resulted in a knockdown. He opened up with a wide overhand left, Avdic touched him with a well-timed counter right, and Kapuler lost his balance. Kapuler's gloves scraped the canvas and a knockdown was called.
In amateur boxing, standing eight counts and knockdowns don't count extra, so Kapuler deserved to win the first comfortably, yet one of the five judges somehow gave Avdic ten points.
The second round was even better for Kapuler. He was barely touched and continued to land off his foot movement. Incredibly, two other judges scored the round for Avdic, so the bout was in doubt heading into the final round.
The IBA is notorious for producing head-scratching decisions. The organization has been so blatantly corrupt the IBA is no longer allowed to run the Olympic boxing tournament. The World Championships aren't even a qualifier for the Olympics anymore.
Avdic had a better third, landing here and there, but it wasn't enough to override Miroslav's impressive body work. Four judges were sensible enough to give the Israeli the round and the fight; one judge may need to visit an ophthalmologist. Kapuler is slated to face Youcef Islam Yaiche of Algeria on May 6. Algeria has no diplomatic relations with Israel, and Algerian athletes have refused to participate against Israeli athletes in the past, so we'll see if the match takes place.
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