Two boxers tipped for Olympic gold didn't even make it into the last 16 after losing in Beijing in Beijing on Monday.
In a reverse of the 2007 world championship final, reigning global featherweight king Albert Selimov of Russia was well beaten 14-7 by Ukraine's Vasyl Lomachenko.
And in the lightweight division, North Korea's Kim Song-Guk, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist, went out by the stunningly large margin of 13-3 against French outsider Daouda Sow.
Kim's exit strengthened Alexey Tischenko's position as the new favourite for the lightweight gold.
The Russian kept his power dry as he made it into the last 16 of the 60kg category.
Tischenko, the 2004 Olympic and 2005 world champion at featherweight before moving up a division, saw off Tunisia's Saifeddine Nejmaoui 10-2.
Afterwards Tischenko stressed he'd deliberately kept something in reserve.
"I tried not to spend too much energy and to defend mostly," he explained. "The other guy got too close and clinched too much.
"It was not a very beautiful bout and I didn't like it. This bout was neither easy nor hard. I'll be better later."
His hopes of adding a second gold medal to the one he won in Athens four years ago were given a huge boost even before the tournament started.
World champion Selimov crashes out
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