Erislandy Alvarez made sure Cuba didn’t leave the Paris Olympics without a boxing gold, edging out France’s Sofiane Oumiha on Wednesday by a 3-2 decision to win the men’s 63.5 kilogram gold at the Paris Games.

Cuba, a long-time Olympic boxing powerhouse, had only left one Olympics without a boxing gold since 1968, when they managed four silvers but no golds at the Beijing Games in 2008. If they were to avoid a repeat, Alvarez would need to defeat a hometown fighter who was eager to cap off his accomplished amateur career with the sport’s highest prize.

Alvarez, 24, got off to an aggressive start against the 29-year-old Oumiha, closing the distance and winging hooks against the mobile Oumiha, whose defense helped him avoid some but not all of the big shots. The strong start enabled Alvarez to sweep the first round on all five cards. Needing a tactical change to turn the tide, Oumiha began standing his ground and countering more. Alvarez also made an adjustment, using a left uppercut up the middle to open up left hook opportunities around the guard. Oumiha answered back by taking a step back before exchanges and looking to fill the gap with left hook counters. Oumiha was able to win the second on three of the cards, giving him the slightest window to pull out the match going into the third.

Alvarez pulled out the last round by a 4-1 margin with his aggression, earning him the victory and denying Oumiha the gold he has sought ever since he earned silver at the Rio Games in 2016. Oumiha broke down in tears at the decision while Alvarez, a former gymnast, celebrated with a backflip at center ring.

Oleksandr Khyzyniak, the silver medalist from the Tokyo Games, was able to exorcise the demons from three years prior, outworking Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan to win a 3-2 decision in the men’s 80kg final.

The nonstop aggression that typifies Khyzniak’s style produced a trickle of blood from Oralbay’s nose. Oralbay did his best to keep up with the pace, looking for counterpunch opportunities, but Khyzniak’s deceptively good defense and unrealistic pace made that a challenging task.

The fight was dead even heading into the third, with each boxer ahead on two cards and the fifth even. The pace began to tell on Oralbay, who started to give ground and touch the ropes. Khyzniak took advantage of Oralbay’s exhaustion, mixing in left uppercuts as Oralbay wilted, stumbling out of exhaustion at the final bell.

The 29-year-old Khyzhniak of Poltava, Ukraine had made it to the gold medal match three years earlier, but was knocked out in round three by Hebert Conceicao Sousa with seconds remaining of a fight he had dominated from the outset.

There are two gold medal matches set for Thursday’s session, with China’s Chang Yuan facing Turkey’s Hatice Akbas in the women’s 54kg final and Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan facing France’s Billal Bennama in the men’s 51kg final.

Full Results

Women’s 57kg – semifinals

Lin Yu Ting (TPE) 5-0 Esra Yildiz Kahraman (TUR)

Julia Szeremeta (POL) 4-1 Nesthy Petecio (PHI)

Men’s +92kg – semifinals

Bakhodir Jalolov (UZB) 5-0 Nelvie Raman Tiafack (GER)

Ayoub Ghadfa Drissi El Aissaoui (ESP) Djamili-Dini Aboudou Moindze (FRA)

Men’s 63.5kg – final

Erislandy Alvarez (CUB) 3-2 Sofiane Oumiha (FRA)

Men’s 80kg – final

Oleksandr Khyzhniak (UKR) 3-2 Nurbek Oralbay (KAZ)