Super-heavyweight David Price climbed off the canvas three times Thursday to give England six fighters vying for a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games boxing competition.
Pakistan's Lassi Mehrullah beat Luke Jackson of Australia by 20 points to one in the Featherweight pre-finals. Mehrullah will now fight England's Stephen Smith for the Games gold medal. Smith out-pointed Darren Edwards 29-15 in the other semi-.final clash.
The giant Liverpool plumber looked headed for an early night when he was sent crashing to the floor three times in the early rounds on the end of Indian Varghese Johnson's lethal left, but in a dramatic turnabout Johnson ran out of steam in the final round.
Price put three standing counts on the spent Indian, who still led on points (27-23) when the referee called a halt and gave the Scouser an incredible victory.
He joins light-welterweight Jamie Russan, flyweight Don Broadhurst, featherweight Stephen Smith, light-flyweight Darran Langley and lightweight Frankie Gavin in Saturday's finals, the most of any nation at the Games boxing tournament.
"A lot of people would have written me off but I've faith in my heart and my chin," Price said.
"When you get knocked down you get all these nasty thoughts in your head, you think 'what's going on here?' but I had to keep myself together and I must have done it properly to get here."
Price will face Welshman Kevin Evans in the final, who has beaten the Englishman twice earlier in his career.
Evans finished with a bloodied nose but was too strong for Steven Rudic outscoring his cumbersome Australian opponent inside the third round 32-12.
Russan, Broadhurst and Smith were winners in the afternoon session, with Russan particularly impressive knocking Welshman Jamie Crees down halfway through the opening round and then putting another standing count on the Crees before the referee stopped the fight.
In the night session, Gavin gave the Australian teenager Leonardo Zappavigna a boxing lesson, wrapping up the contest inside the third round outscoring with a 27-7 lead.
Southpaw Gavin, who was a sparring partner for British Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan before the Athens Games, will fight for the gold against Giovanni Frontin, who outpointed Kenya's Charles Menya 19-4.
"I knew (Zappavigna) was going to rush out in the beginning but I had style to beat him and I loved him coming forward," Gavin said.
"Every tournament I've had in the last six months it's just been good performances and a build-up to the Commonwealth Games and now I'm here fighting for the gold medal."
Langley will fight Namibia's Jafet Uutoni for the light-flyweight gold medal after wearing down Welshman Mohammed Nasir 19-13. Uutoni was too strong for Simanga Shiba of Swaziland 34-16.
Showy Indian bantamweight Akhil Kumar need a last second scoring punch to bring off a lively 26-24 win over Nestor Bolum of Nigeria.
Kumar led 19-16 heading into the final round but fell a couple of points behind inside the final 30 seconds only to get up with a winning left.
Kumar will have to beat Louis Julie of Mauritius in the final after Julie out-bozed Mmoloki Nogeng of Botswana 21-10.
Neil Perkins was England's only loss in the night session to India's Vijender 22-14 who will now face South Africa's Bongani Mwelase in the gold medal round.
Vijender hammered Perkins with his big-scoring right hand in the final round to set up a shot at the gold against Mwelase, who outscored Nigeria's Olufemi Ajayi 33-14 in the third round.
Scotland's Ken Anderson pounded Australian Ben McEachran inside two rounds reaching 22-2 to stop the contest and become the light-heavyweight gold medal favourite against Nigeria's Adura Olalehin, who outpointed Kenyan Joshua Makonjio 29-9.
Australian fighters lost all their three bouts in the evening session, leaving them with just two fighters in the finals, middleweight Jarrod Fletcher and heavyweight Brad Pitt.
COLLATED RESULTS: SEMI-FINALS:
FLYWEIGHT: Jackson Chauke (RSA) bt Martin Mubiru (UGA) pts 24-22; Don Broadhurst (ENG) bt Jitender Kumar (IND) pts 31-26.
FEATHERWEIGHT: Stephen Smith (ENG) bt Darren Edwards (WAL) pts 29-15; Lassi Mehrullah (PAK) bt Luke Jackson (AUS) pts 20-1.
LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT: Moses Kopo (LES) bt Black Moses Mathenge (KEN) pts 28-12; James Russan (ENG) bt Jamie Crees (WAL) Ret Rd 1.
MIDDLEWEIGHT: Adonis Stevenson (CAN) bt Warren Fuavailili (SAM) RSC Rd4; Jarrod Fletcher (AUS) bt James Degale (ENG) pts 17-13.
HEAVYWEIGHT: Harpreet Singh (IND) bt Anderson Emmanuel (BAR) KO Rd1; Brad Pitt (AUS) bt Awusone Yekeni (GHA) pts 25-13.
LIGHT-FLYWEIGHT: Jafet Uutoni (NAM) bt Simanga Shiba (SWZ) pts 34-16; Darran Langley (ENG) bt Mohammed Nasir (WAL) pts 19-13.
BANTAMWEIGHT: Akhil Kumar (IND) bt Nestor Bolum (NGR) pts 26-24; Louis Julie (MRI) bt Mmoloki Nogeng (BOT) pts 21-10.
LIGHTWEIGHT: Giovanni Frontin (MRI) bt Charles Menya (KEN) pts 19-4; Frankie Gavin (ENG) bt Leonardo Zappavigna (AUS) pts 27-7.
WELTERWEIGHT: Bongani Mwelase (RSA) bt Olufemi Ajayi (NGR) RSC Rd 3 (33-13); Vijender (IND) bt Neil Perkins (ENG) pts 22-14.
LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT: Adura Olalehin (NGR) bt Joshua Makonjio (KEN) pts 29-9; Ken Anderson (SCO) bt Ben McEachran (AUS) RSC Rd2 (22-2).
SUPER-HEAVYWEIGHT: Kevin Evans (WAL) bt Steven Rudic (AUS) RSC Rd 3 (32-12); David Price (ENG) bt Varghese Johnson (IND) RSC Rd 4.
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