Tampere ready for the Tammer 2015

Tammer Tournamet Logo

The 36th International Tammer Tournament will be held on the upcoming November the 19th – 22nd in Tampere, Finland.

International Olympic Style Boxing Tammer Tournament is held annually at the legendary Pyynikki Sports Hall in Tampere. The legacy of Tammer Tournament started in the fall 1977 in Tampere and the tournament has been held every year since that except on the years 1981, 1993 and 2000 when Tampere has hosted men’s European or World Championships.

Tammer Tournament is internationally well known, high standard boxing tournament. During the over 30 years of Tammer history the tournament has built a reputation as one of the most respected Olympic style boxing tournaments in the world.

The founder of the Tammer Tournament is Tampere Boxing Association’s honorary president Mr. Tauno Salminen. Mr. Salminen seeked information from international tournaments and got himself acquainted with high standard tournaments in Germany. In 1977 the very first Tammer Tournament hosted boxers from five countries addition to the Finnish fighters. Norway, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Canada and West Germany. The highest number of participating countries was seen in 1997 when boxers from 35 countries fought for the Tammer medals. One of the top years of the tournament was in 1999 when Tammer Tournament was both the Olympic qualifying tournament for Sydney Olympics as well as qualifying tournament for the 2000 European Championships. Magnificent 146 boxers were boxing in Pyynikki that year. Annually Tammer Tournament hosts 90 boxers on average.

During the first years of Tammer Tournament the participating teams were mostly city and clubs teams from Europe, in order to have suitable level boxers for Finnish boxers. During the years the level of boxers and quality of boxing has risen and today Tammer Tournament hosts national teams all over the world with top boxers in each team. During its history Tammer Tournament has hosted teams from 80 countries. Annually teams from ten to twenty countries take part in the tournament. Ever since the very first year the event has hosted some of the greatest champions of all time, such as Mike Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya. Latest super talent seen in the Pyynikki ring was England’s Luke Campbell who four years later won Olympic Gold medal in London Olympics 2012. In addition to the superstars, the Pyynikki ring has seen more than 2500 practitioners of the noble art and science of Olympic style boxing.

New Tammer countries

As Tammer Tournament has hosted teams from 80 different countries, new ones are quite rear these days.

Here you can see the number of boxers and countries participating in the tournament each year. In the last section you’ll see the number of gold medals for Finnish boxers that year.

Finnish Boxers in Tammer Tournament:

Tammer Tournament was not held in years 1981, 1993 and 2000 due to the European and World Championships in Tampere. Finnish boxers didn’t reach to the highest podium in years 1995, 1999 2006 and 2011. One gold medal was reach in years 1982 ( Hannu Vuorinen ), 1984 ( Pekka Laasanen ), 1987 ( Vesa Wallden ), 1989 ( Reijo Vuorinen ), 1996 ( Kai-Erik Kandelin ), 1997 ( Jouni Hartman ), 2003 ( Joni Turunen ), 2007 (Niko Jokinen), 2008 (Nikolai Kodin) and 2010 (Matti Koota). In 2012 and 2013 the only gold medal for Finland was won by Mira Potkonen, who won the only women’s weight category (60kg) in the tournament.

Finnish male boxers have achieved 77 gold medals during the years 1977-2012. 56 Finnish boxers have reached to the top in Tammer Tournament. Success has divided surprisingly even within the weight categories: 48 kg 5, 51 kg 6, 54 kg 7, 56 kg 1, 57 kg 8, 60 kg 7, 63,5 kg 3, 64 kg 2, 67 kg 8, 69 kg 3, 71 kg 3, 75 kg 8, 81 kg 3, 91 kg 5, +81 kg 3 ja +91 kg 5 victories for Finnish boxers (categories 64 and 69 came in 2003, category 56 since 2010 and +81 kg was only in years 1977-79).