France’s Sofiane Oumiha won his second AIBA World title after the Hamburg 2017 edition

The first part of the finals with seven contests were held in the AIBA World Boxing Championships on Friday when three European boxers earned gold medals. France’s Sofian Oumiha amazed once again and celebrated his second AIBA World title after the Hamburg 2017 edition.

The Russian Boxing Federation, France, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus and Italy are the European which have got finalists at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia after the semi-finals. Turkey, the Russian Boxing Federation, Ukraine, Belarus and Italy have got still finalists in the upcoming last competition day.  

The Russian Boxing Federation, Georgia, France, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Italy, Belgium, Armenia, Turkey, Scotland, Albania, Ukraine, Serbia and Spain are the medallist nations in the European Boxing Confederation.   

Following eleven competition days, 491 bouts are concluded in the AIBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships where the total number of boxers is 510 from 88 nations representing four Confederations. Among the 88 countries, 38 arrived from the European continent which competes with 246 boxers in Serbia’s capital city. The Technical Delegate of the AIBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships is Mr. Marko Marovic of Croatia.  

The bout of the day

Russian Boxing Federation’s Dzhambulat Bizhamov claimed silver medal at the middleweight (75kg) following his loss to Cuba’s Yoenlis Hernandez but his teammate, Mark Petrovskii reached a highlight. The 22-year-old Russian competed international junior events already in 2015 but he never competed any of the elite championships yet. Petrovskii won the Russian Elite National Championships in September and received the right to attend in the AIBA World Boxing Championships. Petrovskii met with Armenia’s David Chaloyan who replaced Gurgen Hovhannisyan in the national team at the super heavyweight (+92kg). Petrovskii received strong punches from the Armenian side but he could reduce the fighting distance well enough in most of the bout to win the title of the heaviest weight class. 

The surprise of the day

Loren Berto Alfonso achieved silver and bronze medals in the national events and tournaments in Cuba therefore he switched to Azerbaijan in the beginning of 2018. He could compete in the Minsk 2019 European Games and won the gold medal at the light heavyweight (81kg). Alfonso moved up to the new cruiserweight (86kg) and following his success against Cuba’s Herich Ruiz, he advanced to the final. Azerbaijan’s top boxer met in the final with a young hope, 21-year-old Brazil’s Keno Machado who had also several successes in the recent three and half years. Both boxers waited for the fault of their opponents in the final which made the bout to a big chess game in Belgrade. The Azeri boxer had slightly better counter-punches and became AIBA World Champion at the very first time.

The Round-Up

France’s Hamburg 2017 AIBA World Champion and European Games silver medallist Sofiane Oumiha moved back to the lightweight (60kg) in the recent three months. He was even better and better rounds by rounds in the AIBA World Boxing Championships and enjoyed the final against Uzbekistan’s promising star, Abdumalik Khalakov. Oumiha was able to keep his Uzbek rival on long and took the lead on the scorecards after one round proving that in that game he is better than Khalakov. The 21-year-old Uzbek moved forward which is not his best style of boxing and Oumiha counter-attacked him successfully to win his second AIBA title after four years of break.

The quote of the day

“I could win my second gold medal in the AIBA World Boxing Championships and the feeling is amazing. I played my own game, I kept the distance against my Uzbek opponent who is a wonderful young talent. He tried to do the same as me but I believe I could beat him with my strategy,” commented his second gold medal France’s Sofiane Oumiha.