Brazil’s APB star Robson Conceição lights up Rio 2016 Boxing Test Event with golden performance
09 December 2015The weekend saw Brazilian boxing fans given a sneak preview of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games boxing competition, and the Aquece Rio Test Event drew some big names from AIBA Pro Boxing to the competition in Barra da Tijuca.
Sunday’s finals got off to a flying start with home-crowd favourite Robson Conceição taking lightweight gold against Uzbekistan’s Hurshid Tojibaev. Both boxers are already confirmed for the 2016 Olympic Games, and they clearly relished the opportunity to get a taste of the Rio facilities and atmosphere.
Another local APB athlete, Patrick Lourenço, made it to the finals in the light flyweight category, but he couldn’t find a way past another Uzbek, Hasanboy Dusmatov, on Sunday afternoon. Germany’s APB representatives also fared well, with Xhek Paskali and Erik Pfeifer winning silver at middleweight and super heavyweight respectively, while team-mate Sergej Michel took light heavyweight bronze.
Mexico’s 25-year-old Juan Pablo Romero moved up to the welterweight class and took the second bronze for APB boxers, losing out to Morocco’s in-form AIBA World Champion Mohammed Rabii in their semi-final on Saturday
