Kazakhstan’s Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Daniyar Yeleussinov is back on track in Almaty

Kazakhstan’s Rio 2016 Olympic Champion and AIBA World Champion Daniyar Yeleussinov returned to the world of boxing in top shape and proved his amazing technique in the Three Nations Tournament which was held in Almaty. He defeated both of his Uzbek opponents and will be aiming for his second Olympic gold medal in Tokyo.
Daniyar Yeleussinov was born on March 13 in 1991 and began boxing with his coach father at the age of 10. The young talent was only 15 when he claimed gold medal at the 2006 AIBA Cadet World Boxing Championships in Istanbul where he was able to beat all of his rivals before the final bell.
Yeleussinov claimed only a bronze medal in the 2007 AIBA Cadet World Boxing Championships in Baku where he lost to Azerbaijan’s Elvin Isayev in the semi-final. The Kazakh teenager secured another important silver medal in the 2008 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico where he dominated all of his contests and lost narrowly to Ireland’s Raymond Moylette in the final.
Yeleussinov claimed his second national title among the youth boxers in Kazakhstan in 2009 and quickly adopted the level of the elite athletes in the next year. He did not turn to 19 yet when his hand was raised after the last bell in the final of the 2010 Kazakhstan National Elite Boxing Championships. His final opponent was Adilet Yegizekov who could not catch Yeleussinov in their one-sided gold medal contest.
Yeleussinov robbed also to the bests in the international elite level, he won the Feliks Stamm Memorial Tournament in Warsaw, Poland a few months later and defeated all of his rivals with large margin of difference in the Asian Games in Guangzhou. He was only 19 in the Asian Games but he won the final of the light welterweight (64kg) against India’s Santosh Kumar Virothu by 16:1 in Guangzhou. The Indian boxer was the lone one in the Asian Games who could get one point against the quick Yeleussinov.
Yeleussinov could not realize his golden dreams in the London 2012 Olympic Games where he was among the favourites but his efforts were not enough to get a medal. He defeated US National Olympic Trials winner Jamel Herring and Iran’s Mehdi Tolouti but Italy’s Vincenzo Mangiacapre stopped him in the quarter-finals.
Yeleussinov moved up to the welterweight (69kg) after the London 2012 Olympic Games and took his third national title in Kazakhstan but the first one in his new category. The 22-year-old boxer dominated all of his contests in the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Amman in July 2013 and achieved his first continental title.
He arrived to the Almaty 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships as the top favourite of his new weight class and he was seeded as No.1 in the competition. Yeleussinov defeated Bahamas’ Carl Heild, France’s Souleymane Cissokho, did revenge against Italy’s Vincenzo Mangiacapre and continued his winning path against Germany’s Araik Marutjan and Cuba’s Arisnoide Despaigne in the final.
Following his AIBA World Boxing Championships’ title Yeleussinov travelled to Incheon, South Korea to defend his throne in the Asian Games in 2014. He defeated such strong boxers in Incheon as Turkmenistan’s Serdar Hudayberdiyev in the semi-final and finally Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov for the gold. Daniyar Yeleussinov was named as the AIBA Best Boxer Trophy in 2013 and also in 2014.
The superb Yeleussinov claimed his second title in the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships following his final victory over Philippines’ Eumir Felix Marcial in Bangkok, Thailand. Yeleussinov was not in his best form in the Doha 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships last October but his efforts were enough to take a silver medal. In the final he lost to Morocco’s Mohammed Rabii in a narrow bout.
The 25-year-old Kazakh star eliminated Great Britain’s Baku 2015 European Games bronze medallist Joshua Kelly in his debuting match in Rio de Janeiro and continued his winning path against Venezuela’s AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Gabriel Maestre and France’s World Olympic Qualification Event winner Souleymane Cissokho in the important semi-final.
Kazakhstan’s national team captain had to meet in a classical Asian final of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with Uzbekistan’s AIBA Asian & Oceanian Olympic Qualification Event winner Shakhram Giyasov. Yeleussinov felt the rhythm and his footwork was one of the best this time and took the lead after three minutes of fight. Kazakhstan’s national pride won their gold medal contest with great counter-attacks which delivered the unanimous decision in the favour of Yeleussinov in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Kazakhstan won the gold medal at the welterweight (69kg) in the last four editions of the Olympic Games.
Kazakhstan’s star was thinking to sign a professional contract following his career highlight in Rio de Janeiro but following that he has been decided to remain in the AOB level. Daniyar Yeleussinov returned to the trainings in full speed eight months ago and did successful preparations for the start of 2018.
Kazakhstan Boxing Federation hosted the Three Nations Tournament in Almaty where the Uzbeks and Russians were the counterparts of the Kazakh squads. Daniyar Yeleussinov did not compete since the boxing tournament of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games but he returned with top performance in Almaty.
Yeleussinov’s first opponent was Uzbekistan’s Furkat Shamuratov but the Kazakh No.1 was able to beat him by unanimous decision. Yeleussinov met with Uzbekistan’s Islamic Solidarity Games winner and Indian Open Tournament gold medallist Bobo-Usmon Boturov as second but his energetic style was enough to beat his neighboring rival in Almaty. Yeleussinov is ready to win his third titles in the Asian Games which will be held in Jakarta this August.