BOXING – BAHRAIN’S rising boxing superstar Jayden Price will be stepping into the ring today in the gold medal bout of the boys’ light bantamweight division (52kg) at the Asian U17 Boxing Championships, currently taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Jayden booked his berth in the title fight after winning his three bouts in the competition’s earlier rounds, setting up his clash against hometown boxer Oybek Alimdjonov.
Their contest is part of a packed schedule today on the concluding day of action in the under-17 event, which is being run by Asian Boxing.
Jayden had a bye in his weight class’ first preliminary stage. He then opened his medal bid with a unanimous decision victory against Agarzadan Batkhuyag of Mongolia in round two of the preliminaries. Four of the five judges scored the bout 30-27 in Jayden’s favour, while the other had it at 30-26.
Jayden moved on to the quarter-finals, where he faced Nazarov Damir of Tajikistan and won via a split decision. Two judges gave Jayden a 29-27 score, another two had it at 28-28, and one scored the contest 29-27 in favour of Damir.
Jayden rode his momentum into the last four, where he battled to an impressive split decision win against Bekhan Urazbay of Kazakhstan. Three of the five judges scored the bout in Jayden’s favour – two at 30-27 and the other at 29-28 – while the two others gave it to his opponent with 29-28 scores.
Jayden will be fighting out of the blue corner in today’s final, while Alimdjonov will be in the red. Their bout is the 17th scheduled from a total of 26 in the various under-17 weight categories for both boys and girls.
The Asian U17 Boxing Championships are being held alongside the under-15 continental competition. Jayden is in the Uzbek capital with his father Lee.
Jayden is one of Bahrain’s best young boxers and is highly touted on the international stage. He has gained the valuable backing of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman, and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, as well as of Bahrain Boxing Federation president Rashid Feleyfel.
Jayden will be looking to add his latest gold medal for Bahrain at the highest levels of his age group. Last year, he struck gold in the USA Boxing National Open in Tulsa, Oklahoma; at the Braga Open Boxing event in Portugal; as well as in the 2025 edition of the Asian championships, held in Amman, Jordan.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))