Askerov and Babic won their finals at the Golden Gloves Tournament in Nis where an AIBA 3-star R&J Course were also held during the event

The finals were held at the 61st edition of the Golden Gloves Tournament where eight new champions have been crowned. Russia topped the team rankings with their four gold medals ahead of Morocco and host Serbia. Russia’s EUBC European U22 Shamil Askerov and Serbia’s Vladan Babic proved the best performances in Nis.

An important AIBA 3-star Referee & Judge Course was held during the Golden Gloves Tournament where the new generation of the referees has done their theoretical and practical exams. Mr. Andrew Caulfield of Scotland and Mr. John Waith of Wales were the Instructors of the AIBA 3-star Referee & Judge Course.

The competition was launched in the end of the ’50s and saw several big champions in the recent decades, AIBA World Champions and Olympic medallists such as Croatia’s Olympic Games winner Mate Parlov, Uzbekistan’s Rufat Riskiyev, Kazakhstan’s Serik Konakbayev, Bulgaria’s Detelin Dalakliev, Russia’s London 2012 Olympic Champion Egor Mekhontcev and Russia’s David Ayrapetyan.  

The 2016 edition of the Golden Gloves Tournament was held in a small town in Vrnjacka Banja and following that the capital city Belgrade hosted the event one year ago. The Serbian Boxing Federation decided to move the competition to the city of Nis where an AIBA 3-star Referee & Judge Course is also holding.

Besides to the European countries Morocco and Seychelles joined from the African Confederation to attend in the Golden Gloves Tournament in Nis. Among them Morocco impressed in the competition, their Yassine Bendadda was enough well-prepared to win the first final the flyweight (52kg) after beating Serbia’s Mediterranean Games bronze medallist and Bosnia & Herzegovina International Cup winner Dusan Janjic.

Russia’s Shamil Askerov had successful junior and youth career in the beginning of this decade. The Russian boxer claimed gold medal at the 2017 EUBC European Confederation U22 Boxing Championships in Braila, Romania which was another key point in his career. The 23-year-old boxer was confident in the semi-finals against Slovenia’s Tadej Cernoga and continued his winning path in the final when he defeated Russia’s Arshak Tovmasyan atthe lightweight (60kg).

Russia’s Rasul Aliyev is a relatively new face in the international stage but he was involved to their WSB team in last Season VIII where he proved his strength. The Russian middleweight (75kg) boxer eliminated Norway’s Lithuanian-descent Mindaugas Gedminas in the semi-finals and defeated his teammate Dmitriy Grinkov in the final of the 61st edition of the Golden Gloves Tournament.

Following Dusan Janjic’s silver medal the second Serbian finalist was Vladan Babic who has got also WSB experiences as Russia’s Rasul Aliyev. The Serbian super heavyweight (+91kg) boxer had to meet with one of the best African athletes in this division Seychelles’ All Africa Games silver medallist Keddy Agnes. Babic started better their final and his powerful jabs were enough to beat his well-experienced African opponent in Nis capturing the host nation’s lone gold medal at the Golden Gloves Tournament.