The 63.5kg division is one of the most competitive weight categories in the World right now.
As published last week, the WMO MuayThai Super-Lightweight (63.5kg) World rankings makes up more than 20 athletes from around the World.
- First ever ‘Road to Rajadamnern’ to take place on December 16 in Liverpool
- ONE Friday Fights 38: Full fight card, preview, live stream
- RWS Muay Thai full fight card for October 28
- RWS Muay Thai results: Daniel Rodriguez beats Sornkhaw via first round knockout
- Tawanchai vs Superbon rescheduled for December 8
As well as that, the 63.5kg division is also a hotly contested weight category under amateur rules.
As taking from the official IFMA website, the 63.5kg will be included in the 2022 World Games, with qualifying competitors coming directly from IFMA events.
*Taken from the IFMA website*
“Starting from 2019, all IFMA events will have points assigned for finishing in weight places based on level (World/Continental).
“This will encourage athletes to participate in many events in order to accrue points towards their rankings for The World Games 2022 qualification.”
With all that said, we take a closer look at the eight remaining athletes who compete in the quarter-finals of the Elite 63.5kg category at the IFMA World Championships on Thursday, December 9.
In the first quarter-final Sweden’s Linus Bylander will face one of the divisions favourites, Igor Luibchenko, from Ukraine.
The Ukranian won gold at the 2018 and 2019 IFMA World Championships and is expected to continue his domination throughout this tournament.
In the other quarter-final of the same bracket, Afghan Mohammad Jahangir will face Kazakhstan’s Abil Galiyev.
The Kazak fighter is a 2019 Asian Muay Thai champion and has 7 from 9 wins under amateur rules.
Our prediction:
Igor Luibchenko def. Linus Bylander
Abil Galiyev def. Mohammad Jahangir
In the other half of the bracket, we have Russian Aik Begian taking on Vietnamese Long Doan Nguyen in the third quarter-final.
The Russian won gold in 2018 and 2019, and is undefeated under amateur rules, with a record of 9-0 since 2018.
The fourth quarter-final will see Thailand’s Superball Tded99 (Real name: Weerasak Tharakhajad) facing Italy’s Lorenzo Rossetti.
Lorenzo defeated ONE Championships fighter Ryan Jakiri in Round 2, but he will face a different level against Superball in the quarter-final, who scored a stoppage win via body-kick against his last opponent.
Our pedicition:
Aik Begian def. Long Doan Nguyen
Weerasak Tharakhajdad def. Lorenzo Rossetti
Semi-final bouts based on our predictions will be:
Igor Luibchenko vs Abil Galiyev
Aik Begian vs Weerasak Tharakhajad
