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Canada's Tammara Thibeault wins gold at boxing worlds

Canada's Tammara Thibeault, left, shown in this 2021 file photo, fought Panama's Atheyna Bylon in the middleweight final in Istanbul, on Friday. (Themba Hadebe/The Associated Press - image credit)
Canada's Tammara Thibeault, left, shown in this 2021 file photo, fought Panama's Atheyna Bylon in the middleweight final in Istanbul, on Friday. (Themba Hadebe/The Associated Press - image credit)

Canadian boxer Tammara Thibeault fought her way to a world championship gold medal on Friday at the 2022 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Istanbul.

Thibeault, of Regina, took a split decision (4-1) over against Atheyna Bylon of Panama in the middleweight (70-75 kilograms) final.

The 25 year-old Canadian made it through to the final by scoring a unanimous decision against Mozambique's Rady Adosinda Gramane on Wednesday.

Thibeault won bronze at the 2019 worlds, but will bring home a gold from 2022, as well as $100,000 US in prize money.

WATCH | Regina's Thibeault wins gold at boxing worlds in Turkey:

Cavanagh claims silver

Thibeault's Canadian teammate, Saint John, N.B., native Charlie Cavanagh will come home with a silver medal from Istanbul.

Cavanagh had a tall task in the final, taking on the reigning Olympic champion, Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who also had the home crowd firmly in her corner.

Cavanagh gave Surmeneli plenty of opposition in the first round, but the Tokyo 2020 champion dominated the next two rounds, leading referee David Evans to stop the contest with about 40 seconds remaining in the bout.

WATCH | New Brunswick's Cavanagh takes welterweight silver:

Cavanagh, 21, captured gold at the 2018 youth world championships, and had defeated Ichrak Chaib of Algeria by points (3-2) in Wednesday's semifinal to reach the gold-medal bout on Friday. As the silver medallist, Cavanagh also takes home $50,000 in winnings.