SUFFOLK boxer Anthony Ogogo is now the gold medal favourite for the middleweight category after producing one of the shocks of the London 2012 Olympic games.

Following a nervous post-fight wait, the 23-year-old middleweight – who hails from the north Suffolk town of Lowestoft – was adjudged to have beaten Ukrainian No.1 seed Ievgen Khytrov by the judges after a pulsating 3x3 minute rounds were scored at 18 points each.

Even the countback system – in which the individual scores of all five judges are tallied together – yielded an amazing 52-52 tie, before the judges were required to pick a winner and the majority went with the Briton.

Former Big Brother star Ogogo struggled with a shoulder injury in the build-up to the Games and, after securing qualification late in the day, still almost pulled out after his mother was taken ill.

Having beaten Cuba’s Junior Castillo Martinez in the first round last weekend he was a massive underdog against the powerful Ukrainian who himself had been given a bye to the second round.

Ogogo produced the fight of his life, combining intelligent tactics with some gritty defence, to outscore his opponent in the opening two rounds though. And while Khytrov came all-out in the final three minutes, a tiring Ogogo had just about done enough.

The Suffolk boxer sunk to his knees in an emotional celebration at the end, taking the adulation of the packed ExCeL Centre.

Now installed as the gold medal favourite, Ogogo will face German Stefan Hartel in the quarter-finals next Monday (8.30pm), with semi-finals and final scheduled for Friday and Saturday respectively.