BEIJING (AFP) - Thailand's boxing gold medal hopes Manus Boonjumnong and Somjit Jongjohor both kept their Olympic dreams alive in the semi-finals here on Friday. Reigning champion Manus produced an at times ragged performance in beating Cuban light-welterweight Roniel Iglesias 10-5 while Somjit outclassed Italy's Vincenzo Picardi 7-1 at flyweight. The 33-year-old veteran Thai, who had described Picardi as "dipping sauce" before their fight, is hoping to add Olympic gold to the world title he won back in 2003. Manus admitted the pressure had got to him a little. He had a healthy lead after he was given two points when Iglesias was penalised for a headbutt but he was jeered at the end by spectators for not engaging in battle in the final round. "Yes, I felt the pressure because I was the champion four years ago," he said before vowing to give his all in the final. "I will fight to the death. I will give my life in the ring." Manus will face Felix Diaz of the Dominican Republic after he beat France's Alexis Vastine 12-10 in a contentious bout. Vastine, who stood a full seven inches over Diaz, was largely in control throughout but was twice harshly penalised for pushing his opponent down. "I won this bout but it was stolen from me. It was unfair," he claimed through tears. Meanwhile, Cuba's hopes of beating their record seven gold medals from Atlanta in 1996 faded as Iglesias and Osmai Acosta's defeats meant they can now only claim six. Cuban flyweight Andris Laffita scored a winning punch with just two seconds left to beat Russian Georgy Balakshin and set up a final against Somjit. Balakshin's coach Alexander Lebzyak blamed his fighter for the loss. "He did not stick completely to the technical plan. He should have pressed and attacked his opponent more." Acosta was bludgeoned into submission by heavyweight favourite Rakhim Chakhkiev of Russia, who will face world champion Clemente Russo of Italy in that final. Russo was giving away eight inches to his American opponent Deontay Wilder but was never in trouble as he easily avoided Wilder's punches in a 7-1 victory. Wilder's bronze medal is the only one for the US boxing team in what has been their worst ever performance at an Olympics.British James DeGale continued to make a name for himself as he beat Darren Sutherland of Ireland 10-3 to reach the middleweight final. There he will face Cuban Emilio Correa, who is trying to emulate his father, also called Emilio, who won gold in Munich in 1972 at welterweight. Southpaw DeGale has looked flashy in his progress, during which he impressively upset Kazakhstan's Bakhtiyar Artayev, the gold medallist at welterweight in Athens, in the quarter-finals. "It was easy. I'm so fit, four rounds is nothing," bragged DeGale of his semi-final. "It's a walk in the park for me. I think it's the best I looked." Correa beat Vijender Kumar of India 8-5 and the final looks set to be a classic. Ukraine's Vasyl Lomachenko will be a clear favourite against France's Khedafi Djekhir in the featherweight final. Lomachenko beat world champion Albert Selimov of Russia in the first round, gaining revenge for his defeat in last year's world final in Chicago. He thrashed Turkey's Yakup Kilic 10-1 in a fight that looked a lot more emphatic than even that score suggested. Djekhir claimed a final spot when Azerbaijan's Shahin Imranov retired injured at the end of an entertaining first round that the Frenchman had won 5-2.