European champion Frankham is looking to upgrade his bronze medal from the last World Championships to gold in the city and continued his impressive form with a unanimous victory against his Filipino opponent in the bantamweight division.

Home hope Nikita Piskunov followed the Englishman in progressing further as he beat Georgia’s Otar Naveriani in style, with all five judges awarding him the contest.

Volodya Mnatsakanyan was another Russian winner on day three as he overcame Gabor Virban of Hungary by unanimous decision.

There was a surprise defeat, however, for flyweight competitor Nikolai Matveev, beaten by Aidos Arapov of Kazakhstan.

Only one of the five judges opted for Matveev, with the other four giving the Kazakh the victory to ensure he prolonged his stay in the competition.

Australia’s Jack Bowen also progressed in the flyweight tournament as he saw off the challenge of Mark Lumbab of the Philippines by the same 4-1 scoreline.

Other winners in the division included China’s Wu Zheng, who swept aside Victor Vacula of Moldova 5-0.

The men’s heavyweight competition provided yet more thrilling contests as South Korean fighter Lee Yuntaek defeated Dzmitry Sinkin of Belarus by the narrowest of margins.

The two traded substantial blows before Lee was judged to be the victor by a 3-2 split decision.

Frankham’s team-mate Lewis Frankham produced arguably the display of the third day as he stopped Murat Aydin of Turkey.

The Englishman made light work of his Turkish opponent, claiming victory via technical knockout in the first round in what proved to be a mismatch.

The event in Saint Petersburg is due to continue with further preliminary round action tomorrow.