DeGale eases into quarter-finals

James DeGale brightened the mood of the British boxing camp with an 11-5 victory over American Shawn Estrada.

After a scoreless opening round, DeGale upped his work rate to go through and now faces Kazakhstan's Bakhiytar Artayev, who he beat in January.

"It's going to be a tough fight but I'm ready for him," said DeGale.

Earlier on Saturday another British boxer went out, with flyweight Khalid Yafai well beaten by Cuban Andris Hernadez Laffita.

Flyweight Yafai, who received a bye into the second round in Beijing, was always trailing and struggled to impose himself on the fight as he slipped to a 9-3 defeat.

Yafai, 19, was losing 6-1 at the midway stage and was reduced to chasing his opponent, who picked him off with ease.

DeGale had no such trouble, opening the scoring in the middleweight bout with a chopping left, and he led 3-1 after the second round.

DeGale, who fights out of the Dale Youth Boxing Club in London, extended his lead to 6-3 after three rounds and opened up in some style in the final round.

His opponent in the last eight, Artayev, won the welterweight gold medal at the 2004 Games in Athens and was the middleweight bronze medallist at the 2007 World Championships.

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