Career
Vastine who comes from a boxing family is a lanky boxer-puncher who fights for the club BC Fourmetot.
At the junior world championships he was knocked out by Amir Khan at lightweight and won bronze.
At the senior world championships in Chicago he was outpointed by Bradley Saunders at junior welter but qualified for the Olympics.
At the 2008 Olympics, Vastine reached the semi final where he faced Manuel Félix Díaz from the Dominican Republic. With Vastine leading by two in the final round, the Dominican fighter made a come back and won the fight. Vastine lost the match by two points after being penalised twice by the referee, having four points deducted from his score. France 24 reported:
- Vastine was robbed of his place in the final as he went down 12-10 due to a pair of two-point penalties. Vastine, who stood a full seven inches over his opponent, was largely in control throughout but was harshly penalised for pushing his opponent down, not just once but twice. Diaz was also fortunate to score on a number of wild haymakers that didn't look to have connected cleanly.
The Agence France-Presse described the referee's ruling as "controversial". Diaz, however, went on to win the gold medal.
Vastine went on to suffer what was widely seen as an unjust decision at the 2012 Olympics in London, where he drew on points but lost on countback to top-seeded welterweight Taras Shelestyuk of Ukraine in the quarter-finals, thus missing out on a medal.
Read more about this topic: Alexis Vastine
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