London 2012 Olympics: Joshua makes it a hat-trick of finals for GB boxing team

Joshua had jumped straight out at his Kazakh opponent, just missing with a big right hook, and a lightning left jab enabled him to set the pace in the contest, although he was rightly wary of Dychko’s ability to find the target with left-hand counters.

The Kazakh’s busy lefts were scoring well, but a clubbing right uppercut from Joshua kept him in the hunt and it was no surprise that the giant pair found themselves locked together at four points all at the end of the first.

Both men swung wildly at the start of the second, with Joshua getting the better of that particular exchange, and a sweeping right hook grazed Dychko’s chin as the Briton plainly began to seek to take a foothold in the contest.

A pair of left jabs appeared to consolidate Joshua’s advantage, although he was caught by a strong right hand by the Kazakh, whose better work in the final 30 seconds of the round helped him keep the score locked together at 8-8 going into the final round.

Joshua continued stalking Dychko in the last, stabbing a straight left which drew blood from Dychko’s nose, and another super left looked to give him the advantage although Dychko also landed a wide hook in the generally tentative exchanges.

Fred Evans continued his magnificent run in the welterweight division with a superbly composed performance to see off Ukraine’s world No 1 and reigning world champion Taras Shelestyuk 11-10.

Once again roared on by a capacity crowd who have taken the Welshman’s no-holds-barred style to their hearts, Evans started in composed fashion, keeping the Ukrainian at range and darting in behind a flicking right jab.

Shelestyuk was equally active, but it was Evans who was producing the cleaner work, with a nice right hook towards the end of the first giving him a three-point advantage on the judges’ cards. Evans, who has veered from kamikaze attacking to reluctance to engage in his three bouts in the Games so far, was looking far more composed as he worked over the Ukrainian, digging loose shots to the body and another right as Shelestyuk seemed shorn of ideas.

When the Ukrainian did land, with a looping right hand, Evans fired back a split second later with a cracking straight left, and although he finished the round with another right, the judges scored the round a draw, so Evans took his three-point lead into the last.

Covering up well to deflect the majority of the Ukrainian’s big shots, Evans found his target with a right through the middle, but the Ukrainian scored with enough shots of his own to make it an anxious wait for the verdict. The Briton will face Serik Sapiyev of Kazakhstan in the gold medal bout.

Luke Campbell will square off against John Joe Nevin as he aims to fulfil his lifelong ambition of winning an Olympic gold medal in a mouth-watering Anglo-Irish bantamweight final.

The 24-year-old from Hull eased past Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu 20-11 in their semi-final to set up a third career meeting with Ireland’s Nevin – a stunning 19-14 winner over Cuba’s reigning world champion Lazaro Alvarez Estrada. But the dream is over for Lowestoft middleweight Anthony Ogogo, who must settle for picking up a bronze medal after he was floored twice on his way to a 16-9 defeat to powerful Brazilian Esquiva Falcao.

Campbell’s relationship with Nevin goes beyond their two previous bouts, in which Nevin triumphed comfortably in the 2009 EU Championships and the Hull man edged their last meeting on countback at last year’s World Championships. Ogogo, whose Olympic build-up was marred by a serious illness suffered by his mother, said he would find some pride in taking home a bronze medal after going down to Falcao, the man who also beat him in last year’s World Championships. After two cagey rounds which the Brazilian edged by three points, Ogogo was decked by a straight left seconds into round three, and was fortunate to see out the contest after also being dumped by a flurry as the Brazilian ran out an easy winner.