Favourite Usyk scrapes through to semis at President's Cup

WORLD bronze medallist Oleksandr Usyk was pushed all the way before squeezing into the semi-finals of the President's Cup in Baku on judges' individual scores.

The Ukrainian is favourite for the heavyweight crown in Azerbaijan but was nearly sent crashing out in his first bout as Pan American Games bronze medallist Rafael Lima stood toe-to-toe with him throughout.

The pair were tied at 1-1 at the end of the bout and even the judges' accepted scores were equal at 4-4 before the judges' individual scores leaned 4-1 in favour of the European fighter.

Meanwhile, in the lightweight division, Puerto Rico's world silver medallist José Pedraza edged past Asian champion Enkhzorig Zorigtbaatar.

Pedraza had seen off the Mongolian in the preliminary rounds of September's World Championship in Milan and repeated the trick in Baku, coming out 4-3 winner.

Finally, in a clash of the titans in the light heavyweight division, France's world bronze medallist Abdelkader Bouhenia overcame Kazakhstan's returning Olympic bronze medallist Yerkebulan Shynaliyev.

The Asian looked the stronger in the first round, taking a 2-1 lead before the Frenchman stormed back to book his semi-final berth, ultimately winning 9-5.

Ireland's John Joe Nevin, who picked up world bantamweight bronze in September, starts his President's Cup campaign for Europe 2 on Wednesday against Australia's Luke Boyd.