The World Boxing Council’s featherweight tournament, staged in conjunction with Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia, entered its first phase Friday with 16 bouts in the opening Round of 32.

The contests, which all took place in the Global Theater in Boulevard Riyadh City, were all scheduled for six rounds and designed as 50-50 bouts by matching prospect versus prospect. A horn would sound with 30 seconds remaining in each round to encourage the boxers to finish each session strongly and, after the second and fourth rounds, the judges’ running totals were revealed.

In the event of a draw, the “enhanced scoring system” would kick in, which identifies who “won rounds more conclusively,” to ensure one of the two combatants could move forward into the next round.

Results were as follows:

Ayubkhon Bakhityorov TKO 6 Djamal Hadjab

Yoni Valverde Jnr UD 6 Runqi Zhou 

Holy Dorgbetor SD 6 Oleksandr Solomennikov

Tyshawn Denson UD 6 Enoch Tettey Tetteh

Yusuf Adisa Adeniji* MD 6 Carlos Ortega Orona 

Zholdas Zhengissov TKO 2 El Yazid Ezziandani

Muhamet Qamili UD 6 Ihor Semonchuk

Bekizizwe Maitse UD 6 Rodolfo Puentes

Hector Munguia Jnr TKO 6 Idris Timileyin Gbadamosi

Juma Choki UD6 Bryx Piala

Jhon Bolano UD6 Jermaine Hardison

Angel Sauceda Hinojosa UD6 Maikel Ordosgoitti

Troy Nash SD6 Alexander Kovrigin

Brandon Mejia Mosqueda TKO3 Bishara Sabbar

Gully Powar UD6 Japhethlee Llamido

Iman Lee Juan MD6 Manuel Albornoz

*winner via enhanced scoring system

Notable performances:

Zholdas Zhengissov, of Kazakhstan, scored one of the day’s most destructive victories when a solitary right hand, screwed in close, cleaned out El Yazid Ezzaidani in Round 2. Though Ezziandani, 6-1 (4 KOs), regained his feet, his balance had gone, and the fight was stopped at 1.56.

Unbeaten Yori Valverde Jnr unanimously outpointed China’s plucky Runqi Zhou though the scorecards – all three read 60-54 – may mislead somewhat. France’s Valverde Jnr did win every round but this was far from a one-sided bout with Zhou making his presence felt in a terrific fight.

Uzbekistan’s Ayubkhon Bakhtiyorov impressed when halting late substitute Djamal Hadjab in the sixth. Hadjab, who only accepted the fight at a few days’ notice, found himself on the canvas in the opening when a left hook was quickly followed by a looping right. The Frenchman recovered well to make a fight of it but he was rescued, while under sustained pressure, at 2 minutes, 15 seconds of the final round.

Idris Timileyin Gbadamosi might win the award for the day’s sturdiest whiskers as he somehow stood up to the menacing raids of Hector Munguia Jnr, one to watch as the competition progresses, before being rescued while standing with just 15 seconds remaining.   

The tournament continues on Saturday.