Cuban Erislandy completes preparations for semifinal of the IBA World Cup

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 7 (ACN) Cuban Erislandy Alvarez is finalizing details in his preparation to participate next 18th in the semifinal of the IBA Professional World Cup, to be held in Beijing.

Alvarez, Paris 2024 Olympic champion and runner-up at 63.5 kilograms (kg), will face Tajikistan's Bakhodur Usmonov, world bronze medalist, in an eight-round bout.
This will be revenge, since his opponent beat him in an Olympic qualifier held in the Italian city of Busto Arsizio.

Usmanov defeated local Le Quan Wang in the quarterfinals and was included in the quartet of winners that also included Russian Gabil Mamedov and Serbian Pavel Federov, who beat Venezuelan Luis Arcón and French Soufiane Oumiha, respectively.

In the quarterfinals, the Cuban boxer unanimously defeated Kazakhstan's Adilet Kurmetov in a six-round bout on November 16 at the same venue, where he knocked him in the third round with powerful punches that closed with a hard right hand to the face.

With this victory, the Caribbean boxer remains undefeated in his four professional fights and is now on his way to the victory that will guarantee him to continue towards the discussion of prestige.

The final of this category at the IBA tournament is scheduled for March, also to be held in the Chinese capital, but with 10-round matches.

After this important commitment in China, he will be in action as host in Havana, venue of the Night of Champions, scheduled to take place on January 31 at the Ciudad Deportiva coliseum.