Amit Panghal bettered his silver from the last edition as he out-punched European Championship silver medallist England’s Kiaran MacDonald by a 5-0 verdict in the men’s flyweight.

Despite the height disadvantage, Asian Games gold medallist Panghal was the far better pugilist among the two. But MacDonald upped the ante in the final round despite managing a nasty cut.

Panghal, who won a silver medal in the last Commonwealth Games, during his semi-final match came from behind to beat an aggressive Patrick Chinyemba of Zambia with a 5-0 unanimous decision win, that put straight into the finals for Sunday.

Subedar Amit Panghal is an Indian Army Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and a boxer. He has won silver medal at the 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships in the Flyweight division.

Panghal won a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. Amit Panghal has received top seeding in the 52 kg category. Amit Panghal is the reigning Asian Games champion and a world championships silver-medallist.

Panghal won the gold medal in his debut appearance at the National Boxing Championships in 2017. He won the bronze medal in the light flyweight category of the 2017 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships in Tashkent in May 2017, and qualified for the 2017 AIBA World Boxing Championships, where he was beaten in the quarterfinal by Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan.

Amit, who had headed into the Tokyo Olympics as one of the firm favourites, suffered a shock loss in the Round of 16. However, the win in Birmingham will give the young boxer the confidence to dream about a medal at Paris 2024.

Panghal stormed into the Commonwealth Games final after beating Zambian Patrick Chinyemba, who is a Tokyo 2020 Olympian, by unanimous decision in the men’s 51kg flyweight semifinal. This was Panghal’s second consecutive Commonwealth Games final, having won the silver medal at the 2018 Gold Coast.

During the 2022 semifinal bout, Panghal was initially defensive as he circled the ring and invited Chinyemba to attack. However, when the Zambian went for the punches, Panghal not only successfully dodged them but replied with a couple of counterpunches.