Beijing - Ukraine's Vasyl Lomachenko stopped Khedafi Djelkhir in the first round to claim featherweight gold Saturday while Felix Diaz brawled his way to victory over defending light welterweight champion Manus Boonjumnong of Thailand. Djelkhir was simply overwhelmed by Lomachenko at the Beijing Workers' Gymnasium and had already received two standing counts when the referee stepped in to stop the fight after just 1 minute 51 seconds to save the French boxer from further punishment.
"I was preparing my tactical plan for the fight thinking that there would be four rounds, but in the course of the first round I felt that I could box more intensively," said Lomachenko.
"I was feeling quite good physically and mentally."
Diaz went into his fight against Manus as underdog but refused to be roughed up by his opponent and eventually gained the upper hand in the third round, outscoring the Thai 8-1 and forcing him to take a standing count thanks to a flush left hook.
"We spent all day yesterday watching videos of Boonjumnong because we knew that it has to be an effective strategy to fight against him," said Diaz.
"Nobody could find the right strategy but we did."
Manus was a shadow of the fighter who beat Cuba's Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo in his semi-final bout Friday and Diaz could even afford a spot of showboating to the crowd in the final round as he cruised to a 12-4 points win.
"I did my best," said Manus. "Usually, whenever I punch, the score registers. But in this fight, I punched a lot and nothing registered."
Thailand did manage one gold as Somjit Jongjohor celebrated an impressive win over Cuba's Andris Laffita Hernandez. The 33-year-old built up a six-point lead by the end of the second round and never looked back, eventually defeating the Pan-American champion 8-2 on points after the four two-minute rounds.
"For the past 12 years I have been through many obstacles. If I didn't fight through those challenges, then I'd just be a normal boxer," said Somjit.
"Everyone who puts in effort on the job that they do can become a success like me."
British boxer James DeGale edged Emilio Correa Bayeaux of Cuba 16- 14 in a rough middleweight encounter to secure his country's 19th gold at the Beijing Games.
