Indian boxer Akash Kumar (54kg) staved off a stiff challenge from Puerto Rico’s Caleb Tirado to enter the quarterfinals of the AIBA Men’s World Championships on Sunday. Akash, who received a walkover in the last round, clinched it 5-0 to make the last-eight stage in his debut appearance. Tirado was impressive in the opening round with his body shots but Akash stuck to hitting straight and clean, a tactic which found favour with the judges.

The Puerto Rican also endured a point’s deduction in the second round after he picked up a warning for failing to keep his head up. Later in the evening, Nishant Dev (71kg) will be up against Mexico’s Alvarez Verde in the last-16 round.

Also tonight, Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) will take on Georgia’s Giorgi Tchigladze while Narender berwal (+92kg) will square off against Tajikistan’s Jakhon Qurbonov respectively. Altogether 10 Indian boxers have made the pre-quarters. Of these, Govind Sahani (48kg) was ousted on Saturday.

The gold winners at the showpiece will walk away with a prize money of USD 100,000. The silver medallists are to be given USD 50,000, and both bronze-medallists will be awarded USD 25,000 each. The total prize purse stands at a whopping USD 2.6 million. India are being represented by its reigning national champions across weight categories.