Ankush Panghal beats reigning world champ to get within a win of Asian Games boxing gold

Ankush Panghal celebrates after his win over reigning 75kg world champion Fazliddin Erkinboev of Uzbekistan in men’s 80kg semi-final on Tuesday. (Asian Boxing Photo)

Before Ankush Panghal took to the ring to face Fazliddin Erkinboev in the Asian Games semifinal on Tuesday, India’s men’s head coach CA Kutappa explained to his ward, with the help of footage from an earlier bout, where the Uzbek landed his punches and where he could be hurt.

The attention to detail was called for. Erkinboev is the reigning world champion in the 75kg class and even though he had made the step up to the 80kg category at Aichi-Nagoya, remained a formidable opponent.

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The coach and pugilist decided that a combination of the right hook and left jab could work against the world champion. As Panghal became the first Indian male boxer since Amit Panghal in 2018 to enter the Asian Games final with a 4-1 win over Erkinboev, the head coach said the strategy was based on the Uzbek’s weakness against southpaws.

With both boxers being southpaws, Ankush started the first round relying only on his left straight jabs while the Uzbek depended on combinations of the left straight punch and right hook. Erkinboev, who had knocked out Sri Lankan Muhammad Usait Yazmin in the quarters, won the opening round with a split 4-1 decision.

“Ankush changed his tactics a bit in the later part of the first round. It meant that we did not lose the first round on all five judges’ counts,” Kutappa said.

Ankush with CA Kutappa (fourth from left) and the rest of his team. (BFI Photo)

Ankush would come up with the moves very early in the second round with his combination of left cross and right hook finding the target, while keeping his distance to evade the Uzbek’s attacks. After the Indian took the second round 3-2 on the judges’ score card, Ankush went with the tactic of fighting from close and medium range, switching styles frequently in the final round to win it 5-0 to enter the gold medal bout.

“The second round was all about the tactics in the later part of the first round and Ankush did that with control. All the focus was on the left cross and right hook, and also upper cuts as one needs to hit on the upper side to impress the judges. Once he won the second round and the bout was almost level, Ankush fought from close and medium range. He knows how to mix straight and cross punches and his blows from both the hands are good. The good thing was that he didn’t lose hope after the first round and fought with a clear mind and tactics,” the coach said, looking forward to the contest against Kim Minseong of Korea in the final.

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Meanwhile, Parveen Hooda became the third Indian woman boxer to enter the Asian Games final after Mary Kom (2024)and Lovlina Borgohain (2022). Hooda, who had scored a 5-0 win over 2025 Worlds silver medallist Uzbekistan’s Navbakhor Khamidova in the quarters, scored another 5-0 win over China’s Li Shu in the 65kg class on Tuesday. The Chinese had defeated world champion Aida Abikeyeva of Kazakhstan in the quarters.

The first round was a close one which Hooda won 3-2, before dominating the second round unanimously before dominating the next two. The Indian will now face Paris Olympics bronze medallist (66kg) Chen Nien-chin of Chinese Taipei in the final, with the aim of becoming only the second Indian woman boxer to win an Asian Games gold medal.

“We had seen that the Chinese boxer rushes in and creates problems. So the focus for Parveen was to use her counterpunches and evade the attacks. Her left jab and right hook worked well. Chen Nien-chin had lost to Lovlina at the Tokyo Olympics in the 69kg quarters but has become a strong boxer in 65kg,” said Indian women’s head coach Santiago Nieva.

Meanwhile, Narender Berwal finished with a bronze medal after losing 0-5 to world champion Aibek Oralbay of Kazakhstan in the +90kg semifinal.

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a three-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. His latest Laadli Award, in November 2025, came for an article on Deepthi Jeevanji, who won India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Para Championship and was taunted for her unusual features as a child. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More