Last month, in the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, Hasanboy Dusmatov became a two-time Olympic champion.
The 31-year-old Uzbek amateur standout, who claimed gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics but did not go to the Tokyo Games because his weight class was taken away, enjoyed appearing in Paris and taking the top prize win.
“To compete in these big events like the Olympics is special for every athlete in the world,” Dusmatov told The Ring via manager Vadim Kornilov. “Everyone knows that the dream of all the kids in Olympic sports is to win the Olympics. I was lucky enough to make it twice. I am blessed, happy and grateful to God for everything I have been through and experienced in my career.
“Nothing in the world I can compare to winning the Olympics for the first time. Those emotions are incomparable, but if there’s anything as close to emotions as it was the first time, it’s winning it for the second time.”
DUSMATOV WINS THE OLYMPIC GOLD
Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusmatov wins Olympic Gold at 51kg when he defeats Billal Bennama 5-0 #Box #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/xmGRlC8OUw
— Tokkerū (@ATokkers5) August 8, 2024
In the seven men’s weight classes, Uzbekistan dominated the field by winning an extremely impressive haul of five gold medals.
Despite that success, however, Dusmatov feels it could have been more.
“I’m always proud of our team’s accomplishments,” he said. “I’m the older guy, I’ve been here (for many) Olympic Games cycles, and I’ve seen some of these boxers grow from kids to grown men and to Olympic champions. I am very proud of them and of all their achievements.
“But in reality I also feel a bit upset because two of our guys got wrong decisions in their fights and we could have got at least seven medals. It would be at least two bronze, if the boys didn’t get such bad decisions. I believe they were better than everyone in their weight classes.”
The boxing-mad country looks after their own and reaps the rewards by regularly appearing on the podium at major amateur boxing tournaments.
“Since 2016, nothing has changed. Uzbekistan is a boxing country that has produced champions in the last decade,” he said. “We take the gold around the world and bring it back to Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is proud of us. They support us, all the people, all supporters, the government, the president, everyone is behind us. Every family in our country supports us.
“This is what gives us motivation every time we step into the ring. And of course we are always welcome at home and they treat us as some kind of heroes as we raise our flag with honor around the world.”
Dusmatov, who apart from his Olympic success has bagged gold in the 2023 World Championships as well as three golds at the Asian Championships among other notable tournament victories, says he has more than 400 amateur victories, with only about 10 to 15 losses and will ‘ a very impressive 18-0 in the World Series of Boxing (WSB).
That part of his life appears to be behind him, and he has aspirations to add more accolades in the professional ranks, where he is currently 6-0 (5 KOs). He will watch this weekend’s WBA strawweight title fight between Knockout CP Freshmart and Alex Winwood in Perth, Australia.
“I’ve achieved every single thing in the world, I’ve won every single tournament in the world,” he pointed out. “I am a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Val Barker trophy recipient, perhaps the last in the history of amateur boxing.
“If there is anything left that I would like to achieve and accomplish, it is to become a professional world champion. I am the official mandatory challenger for the WBA strawweight champion. I am talking to my management about the possibility of fighting the champion. After I rest a bit, I’m willing to challenge him for the WBA strawweight championship, but I’m also open to any higher weight guys, champions, who want to be challenged.”
And this is the target for Kornilov, who also leads the careers of his compatriots Bakhodir Jalalov, Israil Madrimov and Murodjon Akhmadaliev, among others.
“Hasanboy did everything in the amateurs,” Kornilov said. “I hope that he gets his opportunity to become a world champion in the pro ranks next.”
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at (email protected).
