The semi-finals delivered several surprises in the 62nd Golden Gloves Tournament
30 November 2019Twenty-three semi-final contests were held in the 62nd edition of the Golden Gloves Tournament which is holding in Pancevo, Serbia. Bulgaria’s former Youth Olympic Games winner Blagoy Naydenov advanced to the finals of the event on Day2 which delivered several unexpected results in Pancevo. Algeria, Morocco, Moldova, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Italy and host Serbia proved the best performances in the semi-finals.
The following 17 nations are attending in the 62nd edition of the Golden Gloves Tournament in Pancevo: Algeria, Bulgaria, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, Ghana, Italy, Moldova, Morocco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Romania, Scotland, host Serbia and Ukraine.
Bout of the day
Bulgaria’s Blagoy Naydenov produced a fantastic year in 2014 when he became AIBA Youth World Champion and Youth Olympic Games winner as well. The Bulgarian light heavyweight (81kg) boxer had a few poor years after these strong youth successes but he returned to the world of boxing in better shape two years ago. Naydenov trained hard in the recent months to prepare well to the European Olympic Qualification Event which is scheduled to be hosted on March 2020. The Golden Gloves Tournament is a preparation event for the 23-year-old Bulgarian who had to do his very best to eliminate Morocco’s Mohamed Assaghir. Naydenov had a strong finish in their narrow fight and won their semi-final by split decision in Pancevo.
Surprises of the day
The North African boxers delivered two surprised at the lightweight (63kg) which is a crowded category in the 62ndGolden Gloves Tournament. Firstly, Algeria’s Yahia Abdeli eliminated Netherlands’ European Games bronze medallist and Rio 2016 Olympian Enrico La Cruz in a hectic fight. Secondly, Morocco’s Abdelhaq Nadir looked quicker than Ukraine’s National Champion Yaroslav Khartsyz and shocked his European rival which means both of the North Africans are finalists in Pancevo.
The Round-Up
Moldova arrived to the Golden Gloves Tournament with their best elite male boxers and some of them succeeded and reached the finals. Alexandru Paraschiv began his career with a silver medal at the 2014 EUBC European Junior Boxing Championships when he was only 15. The 20-year-old talent eliminated Czech Republic’s Pavel Polakovic in the quarter-finals and he was confident once again when he met with Ukraine’s Oleksandr Melenyuk in the semi-finals of the Group B of the lightweight (63kg).
Moldova sent two boxers at the middleweight (75kg) to the Golden Gloves Tournament which is a selection between them for the future events. Valeri Sirbu stepped into the ring first and he performed enough strongly to beat Serbia’s Nikola Jovanovic unanimously which means he can box for the title with Netherlands’ Max Van der Pas. In the Group B of the division Moldova’s second hope Andrei Vreme was slightly better than Algeria’s more experienced Sofiane Tabi and will be meeting for the title with Serbia’s Dejan Dasic.
Netherlands had also two boxers in one of the categories at the light heavyweight (81kg) and both youngsters advanced to the finals of the Golden Gloves Tournament. Artjom Kasparian had difficulties in the scorecards against Ukraine’s EUBC European U22 Champion Stepan Hrekul after two rounds but the ringside doctor finished their tough fight in the third following the Dutch boxer’s heavy punches. Following Kasparian’s success, his compatriot 23-year-old Rick De Nooijer defeated Serbia’s Nikola Stevanovic in the Group B of the category.
Strong battles have been held already in the quarter-finals stage of the heavyweight (91kg) in the Golden Gloves Tournament but the semi-finals were even better on Day2. Ukraine’s National Champion Serhii Horskov is a promising boxer who worked well against Italy’s EUBC European U22 Champion and EUBC European Union Champion Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine to advance to the finals. Horskov will be boxing for the title with his teammate, former AIBA Junior World Champion Robert Marton who bowed out Algeria’s three-time Olympian Abdelhafid Benchabla.
Ukraine’s European Games winner and EUBC European Champion Viktor Vykhryst impressed in the semi-finals of the super heavyweight (+91kg) and landed more punches than Italy’s former two-time AIBA World Champion veteran Clemente Russo. The Ukrainian No.1 will be facing for the title of the category with Serbia’s defending champion Vladan Babic who was too strong for Ukraine’s Andriy Horodetskyi.
