Boxing - Joyce ready to flip if he wins the gold

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Britain's Joe Joyce has promised to perform a backflip and break out the dance moves if he wins the battle of the big men and beats Tony Yoka to Olympic super-heavyweight gold on Sunday.

Boxing - Joyce ready to flip if he wins the gold

(Reuters)





Frenchman Yoka is seeking to form a golden couple with girlfriend and team mate Estelle Mossely, who won Friday's women's lightweight final, and has already started the trash talk.

He told Boxing News before the semi-finals that he would rather take on the burly Briton than the "intelligent" Kazakh Ivan Dychko because Joyce was "not smart" as a fighter.

"He’s a strong guy, physically he’s a monster," added the Frenchman. "But I box with my head so for me it’s better to box Joyce."

Joyce, who saw off Dychko on a unanimous points decision and can follow in the footsteps of 2012 champion compatriot Anthony Joshua, is determined to teach the tattooed Frenchman a lesson.

"We'll see on Sunday," he smiled.

A Joyce victory would go down well with the locals, and the 30-year-old has already charmed them by performing some nifty moves from the Brazilian martial art and dance Capoeira after his bouts.

"I learned that back in London, in a Capoeira school," he said after more cartwheels on Friday. "(On Sunday) I'll do my signature backflip, and maybe a bit of Capoeira afterwards."

In other finals, Uzbekistan's Shakhobidin Zoirov will fight Russia's Misha Aloyan for the men's flyweight gold after ending the hopes of Venezuelan Yoel Segundo Finol.

Aloyan out-pointed China's Hu Jianguan to set up Sunday's clash. Finol, Venezuela's first boxing medallist in 32 years, and Hu both collect bronze medals.

Another Russia versus Uzbekistan battle was played out in the men's light-welterweight semi-final with Uzbekistan's Fazliddin Gaibnazarov beating Vitaly Dunaytsev on a split decision to reach the final.

Dunaytsev sank to his knees and pounded the canvas in frustration as the result was announced.

Gaibnazarov's opponent for gold will be Cuban-born Azeri Lorenzo Sotomayor Collazo, a distant cousin of Cuban high jump world record holder and 1992 Olympic champion Javier Sotomayor.

The Baku-based fighter, who beat Armenian-born German Artem Harutyunyan 3-0, had fought Cuban Yasnier Toledo in the previous round.

"At the previous fight I had the feeling that I had fought against a countryman. I was neither happy nor sad, but today I feel much better," he said.

"My life has changed 100 percent, but I owe everything I am to Cuba. That’s where I learned everything. It’s my home country. It’s where my heart is."





(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Bill Rigby)


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