Russia claimed five gold medals and Serbia also won a historical title in the men’s finals in Anapa
16 October 2018Following the superb women’s finals the remained 26 men boxers fought for the 13 titles in the last competition day of the EUBC European Confederation Junior Boxing Championships in Anapa, Russia. Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Italy, Serbia, England and Russia won the titles of the men’s part of the EUBC European Confederation Junior Boxing Championships.
Anapa hosted the event previously in 2013 and in 2014 and after four years the EUBC European Confederation Junior Boxing Championships returned to the Russian city. Boxers who were born in 2002 and in 2003 could attend in the EUBC European Confederation Junior Boxing Championships.
Bulgaria’s EUBC European Confederation Schoolboys Boxing Championships silver medallist Radoslav Rosenov proved superb performance in the whole event in Anapa. The 15-year-old Bulgarian pinweight (46kg) boxer dominated his semi-final against Serbia’s Omer Ajetovic delivered his best combinations in the title contest against Russia’s Mikhail Grigoryan. Following the first two equal rounds the Bulgarian talent dominated the final minutes and reached his career highlight with his gold medal.
Azerbaijan’s 16-year-old Ali Zamanov won several international events including the Heydar Aliyev Junior Cup this year and he was named one of the favourites of the light flyweight (48kg) before the start of the event. The 16-year-old Azeri southpaw started well against England’s Joe McGrail who is the younger brother of EUBC European Elite Champion Peter. Zamanov could not control the second and third rounds in the same way as the first but his hand was raised after the final gong.
Italy’s Michele Baldassi and Georgia’s Luka Nikabadze met in the final of the flyweight (50kg) and their contest was another close fight in Anapa. The Italian controlled the second, the Georgian the third round while the whole contest was won by Baldassi. Serbia’s Semiz Alicic surprised Ireland’s Jon Alexander McConnell in the semi-final of the light bantamweight (52kg) and he claimed an unexpected gold after beating Bulgaria’s Yasen Radev in a tight contest. The strong Bulgarian boxer was silver medallist in the 2017 edition and he repeated the same in Anapa.
Russia’s Khunkerkhan Tyulemeshev dominated the first round of the bantamweight (54kg) final against Romania’s Adrian Florin Preda which determined the result of the whole contest. The Russian boxer was in different level than his 15-year-old Romanian opponent and won the final by unanimous decision. The next Russian gold medal was achieved by EUBC European Schoolboys Champion Maksim Shumov who controlled all of the three rounds against Moldova’s Vasile Cebotari at the featherweight (57kg).
England’s first man finalist in Anapa was Adam Azim has started his boxing career at the age of 6 and proved technician performance in the event. The English lightweight (60kg) boxer tried to use his longer hands against Georgia’s Giorgi Gegetchkori who attacked from the first seconds aggressively. The 16-year-old experienced Azim used his excellent footwork to keep the distance and celebrated his European gold after the last gong.
England’s next finalist was George Bance who tried to reduce the fighting distance against Emirdzhan Mehmed but the light welterweight (63kg) boxer was slightly better from long range and claimed Bulgaria’s second gold medal in Anapa. William Cholov won the gold medal at the EUBC European Confederation Schoolboys Boxing Championships in 2017 and the native talent was able to win the welterweight (66kg) in Anapa against Russia’s Junior National Champion Igor Kuznetsov which was Bulgaria’s third gold in the event.
Europe’s most experienced junior boxer Russia’s EUBC European Schoolboys Champion Mikhail Usov lost only three bouts during his whole career and his skills were enough to beat Italy’s Yassin Hermi in the final of the light middleweight (70kg). Russia’s next gold medal was taken by Ramazan Dadayev who used his tough punches against Georgia’s Georgiy Gutsaev to win his key contest in the event.
Ireland’s Patrick Myers and Azerbaijan’s Murad Allakhverdiyev proved honest boxing in the first round of the light heavyweight (80kg) final. Their spectacular bout delivered several clear punches but Allakhverdiyev was enough effective to win Azerbaijan’s second gold medal in Anapa. The last gold medal of the whole EUBC European Confederation Junior Boxing Championships was captured by Russia’s Armenian-descent Timur Avdoyan who had to box over his limit to beat Hungary’s ISF Gymnasiade winner Hunor Levente Kiss in the final.
