Jitender Kumar out-punched Uzbek Tulashboy Doniyorov in an ill-tempered bout to set up a tough quarter-final with three-time European champion Georgy Balakshin of Russia in 51kg category of the boxing competition at the Olympics in Beijing on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Haryana boxer, who is on his maiden Olympic trip, scored a 13-6 victory to move into the last-eight stage.
In a bout marred by frayed tempers, Jitender led all the way before rounding it off in style with a left jab.
The Indian started confidently, taking a 4-1 lead in the opening round and extended it to 5-1 by the end of the second.
Frustration began to tell on Doniyorov in the third round and, unable to connect punches, the 27-year-old Uzbek resorted to some wrestling inside the boxing ring.
The fury didn't do any good to his chances and Doniyorov was penalised two points for rough play as Jitender continued his aggressive assault to stretch his lead to 11-4 by the end of the third round.
With Doniyorov letting his anger get the better of him, Jitender was in control of the proceedings but even he lost his cool in the beginning of the fourth round, inviting a two-point penalty.
But that hardly made a difference to the final scoreline as Jitender stamped his authority with a combination of uppercuts and jabs, outmaneuvering his opponent in tactics.
The Asian Championship bronze medallist, however, now has a tough task on hand as he takes on Balakshin, to whom he lost in the 2007 World Championships in Chicago by just one point.
Balakshin beat Asian champion Mirat Sarsembayev of Kazakhstan 12-4 in the other pre-quarter-final bout earlier in the day.
On Friday Akhil Kumar scored a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Russian world champion Sergey Vodopyanov in the 54 kg category.
