Spanish boxing had gone 24 years without smelling a medal in the Olympic conclave and has already confirmed two in France. Ayoub Ghadfa, a 25-year-old from Marbella of Moroccan origin, reached the semi-finals of the +92 kilo category on Friday night and will be on the podium. The Armenian Davit Chaloyan, world runner-up in 2021, was knocked out at the North Paris Arena by a sequence of attacks that left no doubt for the five judges of the fight. Unanimously, the victory was awarded to this 1.98m hunk, a graduate in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, who approached combat sports because at school they kept making his life impossible.
The prize for him is doubled because the prelude to the final is being moved to a setting as impressive as the Roland Garros facilities. Next Wednesday evening, he will face the local Djamili-Dini Aboudou Moindze there. A fierce atmosphere awaits him, with The marsellesa thundering, but with the certainty that the pin is guaranteed. “I am not afraid of anyone. Only God. We are going to go out there, get into the ring, do our job and show what we have worked on these years. We are moving forward, we are not stopping here,” he said as soon as he got out of the ring.
His medal joins the one also secured this Thursday by the boxer of Cuban origin Enmanuel Reyes, alias The profit31 years old, who also reached the semi-finals in the -92 kg category after beating Belgian Victor Schelstraete. His match, against Azerbaijani Loren Berto Alfonso Domínguez, is this Sunday 4th at 13.08, although not at Roland Garros.
The imposing physique of Ayoub Ghadfa emerged from the call center assisted by his trainer, the pioneer Rafa Lozano, a guy who is barely 1.50 meters tall and who guided this mulatto mass who is almost two meters tall from the corner. His powerful body contrasts with the childhood of a chubby eight or nine year old boy who had a hard time at school because of the harassment of his classmates. His father recommended that he sign up for kick boxing to defend himself and he did, although over the years he put it aside for his studies. He wanted to leave Marbella for Madrid to pursue a career. And he did. He enrolled and graduated from the Polytechnic University of INEF.
Rafa Lozano Jr. stays in the quarterfinals
The Rio Games sparked Olympic dreams in him, but he didn’t think about boxing. He was more interested in athletics and gymnastics. However, he won the ring because of his past in kick boxingIt was the end of 2016, the beginning of his rise. An idol of Mike Tyson, who he has seen in every fight he could, his success in Paris may encourage him to try his hand at professional boxing. His triumph also comes at a weight class in which Spain has often had difficulty producing boxers.
Fast and with a varied repertoire, this young man who lives in the CAR in Madrid gave a warning from his first fight, last Monday against the Kazakh Kamshybek Kunkadayev, who was aiming for Roland Garros. On Friday’s evening, a bleeding wound on the left side of his head forced the fight to be stopped twice. That was the only gap he had to deal with. The unanimity of the five judges in declaring his victory, from the first round, demonstrated his dominance over the Armenian.
The one who did not make it past the quarterfinals on Friday was Rafa Lozano Jr. (-51), 19, who was defeated by Dominican Yunior Alcántara, fourth seed. Nicknamed Balín, his father and trainer is Rafa Lozano, Balitamedallist in Atlanta 96 (bronze) and Sydney 2000 (silver), the coach of the Spanish delegation. The Olympic success of the family saga did not go any further. The winner of the night was Ayoub Ghadfa.
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