The 71st edition of the Bornemissza Memorial Tournament opened with 38 junior and youth bouts in the city of Eger, Hungary. Scotland’s Liam Duncan, Hungary’s Kevin Kozak and Georgia’s Giorgi Natroshvili delivered the best junior performance on Day1.
The competition is taking place in the women’s youth, women’s junior, men’s youth and men’s junior age groups. The boxers, who were born in 2004 and in 2005, will be eligible to attend in the youth age group and the event is one of the top preparations for the upcoming 2022 IBA Youth World Boxing Championships. The younger 2006-2007 born junior boxers can compete for 26 titles in the upcoming Bornemissza Memorial Tournament.
The last edition of the Bornemissza Memorial Tournament was held on May 2021 with the participation of 205 talents. The new 71st edition is running in Eger this week and 224 boxers are fighting for the titles. The Technical Delegate of the Bornemissza Memorial Tournament is Mr. Viorel Sima of Romania.
The second competition day of the Bornemissza Memorial Tournament contains 43 junior and youth bouts.
The bout of the day
Scotland’s Liam Duncan competed national events already in 2018 and he had outstanding performance in 2019. The Scottish management decided to send their boxers to the Bornemissza Memorial Tournament and Duncan had the chance to show his fantastic talent in the historic city of Eger. Duncan won two out of the three rounds against Georgia’s strong Mate Kharaishvili at the junior featherweight (57kg) which guaranteed his success over a dangerous rival on Day1. His teammate at the youth age group, Patrick Paton eliminated Ukraine’s David Tkachuk at the lightweight (60kg).
The Round-Up
Hungary’s Kevin Kozak came from a boxing family and despite he is only 16, the young boxer is very experienced in the international stage. He competed already at the 2021 EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships in Tbilisi and faced a Georgian boxer in the first day of the Bornemissza Memorial Tournament. Kozak took the lead on the scorecards in the first round and Georgia’s David Nikabadze was not able to find the best distance against him. The Hungarian light bantamweight (52kg) boxer kept the control until the last gong and marched to the next stage of boxing in Eger.
Georgia’s Levan Demurovi claimed a silver medal in their Junior National Championships one year ago which he changed into gold a few weeks ago. The 16-year-old boxer moved up from the light flyweight (48kg) up to the bantamweight (54kg) within one year but he upgraded his strength which the young Georgian proved in Eger on Day1. Demurovi had a hard battle against Croatia’s Ivan Mikulic in the first competition day but his emerging last round supported his success in this traditional tournament.
Georgia’s Giorgi Natroshvili achieved a silver medal at the 2021 EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships when he spent his first year among the junior boxers. The Georgian middleweight (75kg) boxer is still in the junior age group and he is one of the top names at the Bornemissza Memorial Tournament. His Hungarian opponent, Gergo Deli surprised him in the first round but Natroshvili switched his rhythm in the beginning of the second. The Georgian’s powerful combinations finished the contest, the Scottish referee stopped it in the second round.
Ukraine’s Dzhamal Kuliyev was bronze medallist at the 2020 EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships in Sofia and he is one of the stars of their youth national team. The 18-year-old boxer moved up to the cruiserweight (86kg) and he had a powerful opponent in the first day of boxing, Kazakhstan’s Serzhan Yerkin. Kuliyev used the best tactics in the first round to take the lead of the judges’ scorecards but he was still able to do better performance minute by minute. The final verdict was unanimous decision in the favour of the Ukrainian boxer who bowed out an outstanding rival in Eger.
Slovakia’s Tamara Kubalova won international tournaments in the previous one year and she is her nation’s next possible future hope in women’s boxing after EUBC European U22 Champion Miroslava Jedinakova. The Slovakian lightweight (60kg) boxer was too strong for Hungary’s Viktoria Ujvari and won the bout by RSC in the second round. The next tough youth girl in action was Kazakhstan’s Aida Zholdassova who stopped Hungary’s Ramona Nagy at the light welterweight (63kg).