The pair each became the third fighter from his country to guarantee a medal and they will square up for a place in the final tomorrow.

Britain's DeGale upset Kazakhstan's Bakhtiyar Artayev, the Olympic champion in Athens at welterweight who had beaten reigning double world champion Matvey Korobov of Russia in the previous round.

But southpaw DeGale caused the Kazakh problems with his left hand and comfortably won 8-3, winning every round and he is confident of beating Sutherland despite a 4-1 losing record against the Irishman.

"With the skills I've got I should beat him every day.

This time I'm going to use my brain and he shouldn't beat me," he said.

"He beat me in the World Championships last year and he was really a catalyst to make me think about my boxing," said Sullivan.

Nampa-AFP

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