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- The 2024 Olympic Boxing matches in the 80kg division begin on July 27 and conclude on August 7
- Arlen Lopez of Cuba looks to become a three-time Olympic boxing gold medal winner in 2024
- Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine looks to improve on his silver-medal-winning performance in 2020
Boxing fans should tune in to the 2024 Olympic games because there is no guarantee that the sport will be on the agenda in 2028 in Los Angeles. After more than a century, this might be the last year of Olympic boxing because the IOC stripped the International Boxing Association of the right to run the events.
One of the weight divisions to watch in 2024 is the 80kg weight class. In that division, Arlen Lopez of Cuba looks to become the fourth three-time gold medal winner in Olympic boxing history. Lopez won gold in 2016 at 75kg and in 2020 at 81kg. If the 31-year-old Cuban can win the gold in Paris, he will join fellow Cuban fighters Felix Savon, Teofilo Stevenson, and Hungarian Laszlo Papp. Savon, who is 56, retired after winning gold in 2000 at 33. Stevenson, who died at 60 in 2021, earned his third gold medal in 1980. Papp, who lived to be 77, won his final gold medal in 1956.
Oleksandr Khyzhniak, who is the betting favorite at 80kg, could stand in Lopez’s way. The 28-year-old from Ukraine won the silver medal in 2020 at 75kg, losing to Hebert Sousa of Brazil by knockout in the Olympic final.
Before we look at the best bets for the 80kg Olympic boxing competition, check out our tips for betting on the 2024 Paris Olympics and get all of our Olympic Betting Picks.
2024 Olympic Boxing – 80kg betting picks
| Boxers |  |  |  |  |
| Oleksandr Khyzhniak | -115 | -115 | -115 | +101 |
| Arlen Lopez | +300 | +300 | +300 | +350 |
| Nurbek Oralbay | +700 | +700 | +700 | +770 |
| Toqtarbek Tanatqan | +1100 | +1100 | +1100 | +1200 |
| Eumir Marcial | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 | +1975 |
| Callum Peters | +2200 | +2200 | +2200 | +2500 |
| Turabek Khabibullaev | +2200 | +2200 | +2200 | +2500 |
| Cristian Pinales | +2600 | +2600 | +2600 | +2800 |
Oleksandr Khyzhniak betting breakdown
Oleksandr Khyzhniak was the No. 1 seed in the 75kg weight division in 2020. Entering the gold medal matchup that year, Khyzhniak was on a 62-0 run. That run ended in the third round when the No. 3 seed, Hebert Sousa, surprised the world by knocking out Khyzhniak.
Khyzhniak is relentless in his offense. He has incredible cardio, and his approach is to overwhelm his opponent with volume from the start of the fight until the finish. The problem with that approach is that Khyzhniak is so focused on offense and output that he can sometimes forget about his defense and leave very small openings, which was the case in 2020 when Sousa tagged him with the perfect punch at the perfect time.
Khyzhniak has not lost since he fell to Sousa in 2020. He has also kept his approach to the game the same, which will help him against inexperienced competition but could cost him against someone like Arlen Lopez.
Arlen Lopez betting breakdown
Despite coming into the 2024 Paris Olympics with back-to-back gold medals, Cuba’s Arlen Lopez is not the betting favorite in the 80kg weight division. Lopez is a patient and poised fighter. He doesn’t rush into things, and he uses his length and reach well. However, he is one inch shorter than Oleksandr Khyzhniak. He fights well behind his jab and uses strong footwork and movement to avoid his opponents’ offense.
Lopez is excellent defensively and does a very good job of countering when he finds openings. His high guard and head movement prevent his foes from scoring a lot of heavy punches against him, and his speed allows him to counter effectively. His preference is to fight at distance and use time and space to his advantage.
Nurbek Oralbay betting breakdown
Fighting out of Kazakhstan, Nurbek Oralbay is competing in his first Olympic games. The 24-year-old won a gold medal at the 2023 World Amateur Championships at light heavyweight. Oralbay is no slouch, but his lack of experience will cost him in Paris. He is good on defense, keeping a fairly tight high guard, but his offense is sometimes slow, especially when he throws hooks. Oralbay needs to improve his offense and throw more straight punches with speed. His looping offense opens him to counters, especially from opponents with good footwork, head movement, and snapping jabs. Oralbay is a dark horse to pick up a gold medal, but he will need some help along the way and have more experienced boxers lose by upset ahead of the medal rounds.
Best Bets: 2024 Olympic Boxing – 80kg weight division
Oleksandr Khyzhniak’s style will be hard for his opponents to deal with in Paris. If he doesn’t give his foes any time or space to react and overwhelms them with volume and pressure, the gold medal will be his to lose. The one thing that could prevent him from winning is being too aggressive. With that, Arlen Lopez has a chance to beat him through sound defense and fast counters. However, the betting pick is Oleksandr Khyzhniak to win the Olympic gold medal in boxing at 80kg.
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