Kazakhstan's Daniyar Yeleussinov defeated Uzbekistan's Shakhram Giyasov to win the welterweight Olympic title on August 17, racking up Kazakhstan's fourth consecutive gold medal in the event.
It was the first such streak involving four different boxers. Kazakh Serik Sapiyev punched his way to victory at London 2012, Bakhyt Sarsekbayev in Beijing in 2008, and Bakhtiyar Artayev in Athens in 2004.
"It's the Kazakh weight. I just proved it again," Yeleussinov said.
Yeleussinov is considering joining his brother Dauren, a former Olympic fighter, in the United States to become a professional.
Yeleussinov, 25, won on a 3-0 unanimous decision. France's Souleymane Cissokho and Moroccan Mohammed Rabii each took bronze.
Kazakh supporters celebrated wildly and Yeleussinov paraded around the arena with the country's blue flag on his shoulders.
In the first round, Uzbek underdog Giyasov, 23, was the aggressor, stalking his more decorated foe around the ring. He opened up a nasty cut over Yeleussinov's left eye, which he had suffered in a semi-final round. The wound was so bad it had stopped the fight.
"It will probably leave a scar,"which will "remind me" of the Olympic win, Yeleussinov said.
