In 2022, at the age of 19, Doan Ngoc Minh Hieu rises as one of the prominent boxers in large weight classes. Military boxers played over 92kg of men, and won gold medals in the 2022 National Sports Festival.
Success coming early with Minh Hieu is also difficult for military boxing coaches. Because this boxer plays in a large weight class, and not many friends or rivals to raise his level. Minh Hieu himself also understood that he had many limitations in international tournaments, where every opponent was taller, more agile than him, and more friends practiced.
1 year ago, in the Paris Olympic qualifying round, Minh Hieu attended and lost early to the Republic of Irish. This time, he came to the U22 and Asian Championship 2025, and continued to encounter a strong opponent. It was Yersultan Sapar, Kazakhstan boxer.
Compared to the representative of Vietnam, Yersultan Sapar is nearly a head. Kazakhstan boxer shows that he not only owns the advantage of height and range. Right from the first seconds, Yersultan Sapar has an advantage thanks to its flexible movement, as well as attacking from Minh Hieu's blind spot.
The effort from Minh Hieu helped Vietnamese boxers overcome the first half. However, the second half witnessed Yersultan Sapar winning with a series of very heavy attacks. Prove that Minh Hieu tried to stand firmly on the stage but no longer able to play, the referee decided to stop the match.
Minh Hieu's defeat was predicted, and he had more experience in the international playground. At the age of 22, the young boxer of the army has a lot of potential for development. Besides the domestic playground, Minh Hieu needs to try more in international tournaments as today to verify the ability, as well as find more motivation for himself.