Wednesday 17 August 2016 08:44, UK
Joe Joyce is guaranteed at least a bronze medal after dishing out a one-sided beating to Bakhodir Jalolov at the Rio Olympics.
The London super-heavyweight, 30, quickly wore down his talented opponent, who appeared to be running out of steam by the end of the first round but fought on gamely to hear the final bell after two standing counts.
Jalolov slipped to the deck after just 20 seconds and was keen to avoid confrontation with Joyce - the Uzbek scoring neatly with a pair of counters after dancing out of the corner.
A textbook one-two followed from the southpaw Jalolov and Joyce's attempts to force the pace were unsuccessful until a withering right uppercut to the body appeared to knock the wind out of the 22-year-old and swing the momentum of the bout.
Any doubt as to who was in charge in the first were decimated in the second as an immediate Joyce assault put Jalolov on high alert, although the speed of his evasion and counter-punching was diminishing by the second. Joyce responded by cleverly switching his free-scoring shots from body to head and back again.
Jalolov was adjudged to have slipped twice towards the end of the second round and it was not until the final round that he was counted. The session had begun poorly for him as he began pawing at his right eye with Joyce throwing relentlessly to prompt the referee to intervene.
It was a solid show of defiance from Jalolov to hear the final bell while in the process of throwing back an ambitious back-hand left for by that stage, he'd worn a trio of hurtful overhand rights from Joyce and been forced to take another standing count.
In Friday's semi-final, Joyce will meet Kazakhstan's Ivan Dychko after he eliminated Nigerian Efe Ajagba via a unanimous decision.
