CRUMLIN’S KRISTIAN JUBANI has guaranteed at least a bronze medal at the Youth Olympics with a second-round stoppage victory over Almohaimen Takleef of Iraq in Dakar, Senegal.

The European U19 silver medallist took a trip to the canvas in the opening 20 seconds after tripping on his opponent’s foot, but was still able to make an electric start.

After early success with body shots, the 17-year-old southpaw started to land clean punches to the head as well, and the referee issued a standing count to Takleef after the Irish fighter found the mark with a clean one-two.

Another one-two combination found the mark just 30 seconds later, knocking back Takleef’s head and forcing the referee to intervene again.

Jubani landed some heavy punches in the final minute of the first, but didn’t find a punch to force the referee to stop the contest in the opener.

However, the second round saw no change in momentum, as Jubani began to throw four- and five-punch combinations on his increasingly inactive opponent.

The referee was forced into action again after Jubani feinted low with the right hand before landing a perfect straight left, and this time the fight was waved off.

The Dubliner’s win secured his place in the semi-finals of the 50kg weight class, where he will face Mexico’s Alan Jesus Ocampo Cano on Wednesday afternoon for a place in the gold medal match.

After the win, Jubani was clear that he had greater ambitions at the tournament: “I got the medal, but I’m not here for just the medal, I’m here for the gold.”

Ireland’s only previous boxing champion at the Youth Olympics was also in the lowest weight category, when Ryan Burnett took gold in 2010, before going on to win world titles as a professional fighter.