CHICAGO, Nov 3: England’s Frankie Gavin upset Russian Olympic lightweight gold medallist Alexei Tishchenko at the world boxing championships semi-finals on Friday to move within one win of becoming his country’s first world champion.

Gavin, a gold medallist at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, can add to his trophy case with victory over Italy’s Domenico Valentino in Saturday’s gold medal bout.

“The biggest win of my career,” Gavin told reporters. “He’s number one in the world and now I’m one place away from being number one. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in boxing.

“Tomorrow it’s back to basics, get my tactics right and who knows, I could end up being England’s first world champion.”

Gavin fell behind early against the Russian but scored repeatedly with his jab over the four rounds on the way to a 19-10 win.

Valentino also advanced with an upset, stunning 2004 Olympic silver medallist Kim Song Guk of South Korea.

Gavin, who secured his spot at the 2008 Olympics by reaching the quarter-finals, will fancy his chances against Valentino having beaten the Italian in their last two meetings.

The 23-year-old, however, says he will approach the fight the same way he has every other bout at the world championships.

“I go into every fight the same, respect every opponent but you got to be careful to not respect them too much,” said Gavin. “I showed him the same respect I showed everyone in the tournament and now there’s no reason I can’t be number one in the world.”

Russia had eight semifinalists and Tishchenko was one of two not to make the championship round, even though he was the one most expected to be there. Italy’s super heavyweight Roberto Cammarelle was awarded a walkover against Russia’s Islam Timurziev.Russian featherweight Albert Selimov won by a walkover against Yakup Kilic of Turkey; light welterweight Gennady Kovalev beat Bradley Saunders of England, 16-8; middleweight Matvey Korobov routed Sergiy Derevyanchenko of the Ukraine, whose corner threw in the towel with 43 seconds left in the second round; and heavyweight Rakhim Chakhkeiv rolled over France’s John M’Bumba 21-9.

Chakhkeiv will face Clemente Russo of Italy in the final.

In one of the most intriguing matches of the day, Vasyl Lomachenko of the Ukraine and China’s Li Yang went back-and-forth in their featherweight semifinal before it ended tied at 13-13 after four rounds. Lomachenko was then awarded the victory on a judge’s decision.

Somjit Jongjohor of Thailand won his flyweight semifinal by beating Italy’s Vicenzo Picardi 13-2 and will now face American Rau’shee Warren in Saturday’s final. Warren beat Samir Mammadov of Azerbaijan 16-13.

Other semifinal winners Friday were featherweight Serik Sapiyev of Kazakhstan and Venezuela’s Alfonso Blanco in the middleweight division.

2005 World Champion Shiming Zou of China routed Nordine Oubaali of France in the light-flyweight division.

Oubaali got a cheer when he finally landed a punch for a point in the third to make it 13-1. But Zou then unleashed a flurry to score the next eight points for a 21-1 lead to end the fight _ boxing’s version of the mercy rule _ with 43 seconds left in the period.

In Saturday’s championship round at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion, Russia has six finalists, Italy three, the United States, Thailand and Ukraine two each.

Semifinal results at the World Boxing Championships on Friday:

51kg: Somjit Jongjohor (THA) bt Vicenso Picardi (ITA) 13-2; Raushee Warren (USA) bt Samir Mammadov (AZE) 26-13.

57kg: Albert Selimov (RUS) bt Kilic Yakup (TUR) W/O;Vasyl Lomachenko (UKR) bt Li Yang (CHN) +13-13.

64kg: Serik Sapiyev (KAZ) a Masatsugu Kawachi (JPN); RSCOS-3 Gennady Kovalev (RUS) a Bradley Saunders (ENG) 16-8.

75kg: Alfonso Blanco (VEN) bt Artayev Bakhtiyar (KAZ) 15-7; Matvey Korobov (RUS) bt Sergiy Derevyachenko (UKR) RET-2.

91kg: Rakhim Chakhkeiv (RUS) a John MBumba (FRA) 21-9; Clemente Russo (ITA) a Nijati Yushan (CHN) 19-11.