Uila Mau’u lifted the New Zealand boxing camp when he knocked out Leran Regis of St Lucia in the first round of their super-heavyweight quarter-final.
The result guarantees Mau’u of a medal. It’s just a matter of what colour.
Mau’u, who narrowly missed selection for the Tokyo Olympics, stalked Regis until after 2min 34s he landed the knockout blow.
The sensational victory turned around a day at the boxing that wasn’t going so well for New Zealand.
Earlier men’s light-middleweight Wendell Stanley lost a knife-edge bout against Mozambique’s Tiago Muxanga.
Stanley won the first round handily, but took a bit of a beating in the second. He came back well in the third, but couldn’t quite sway the judges.
In the 60kg women’s division, Troy Garton went down after a close battle with Jaismine Jaismine of India in their quarter-final bout.
The Indian was clearly superior in the first round, but Garton fought back well and the next two rounds were hotly disputed. In the end the judges ruled 4-1 in favour of Jaismine.