Bouloudinats and Abbasov were the bests in the opening day at the 63rd Golden Gloves Tournament

The 63^rd Golden Gloves Tournament moved from the previous location from Belgrade to the city of Sombor which is located in the Vojvodina region of Serbia. Algeria’s three-time Olympian Chouaib Bouloudinats eliminated Serbia’s veteran Sergey Kalchugin in a fantastic battle while the host nation’s new pride Vakhid Abbasov won his contest rapidly on Day1.

Algeria and Ghana sent boxers to the Golden Gloves Tournament from the African continent while the Cubans also returned to the Serbian competition after 2019. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine are the participating countries from the European continent.

The Golden Gloves Tournament was launched in the end of the ’50s and saw several big champions in the recent decades. An important AIBA 3-star Referee & Judge Course was held during the 61^st edition of the Golden Gloves Tournament in 2018 when Russia topped the team rankings. Ukraine’s Viktor Vykhryst and Moldova’s Alexandru Paraschiv were the best boxers in the last 62^nd edition of the Golden Gloves Tournament.

The safety of all participants, the continuous medical checks, the social distancing, the hygienic preparations, wearing masks and all of the health controls are the responsibility of the local organizers in Serbia to avoid any new Covid-19 cases during the 63^rd Golden Gloves Tournament.

Bout of the day

Algeria’s veteran boxer Chouaib Bouloudinats is still on the board in the national team and qualified to his third Olympic Games to Tokyo. The Algerian super heavyweight (+91kg) boxer faced with another veteran star in the first day of boxing, Sergey Kalchugin who moved from Russia to Serbia. The new Serbian national team member tried to do his well-built tactic against the North African boxer but Bouloudinats changed his rhythm very quickly. The Algerian boxer overcame his Serbian rival in the attacks and won their remarkable contest by split decision in Sombor.

The Round-Up

Algeria’s Yougourtha Ait Bekka moved up to the welterweight (69kg) this year and returned to the international events in Serbia. The Algerian took the lead in each of the scorecards after three minutes against Serbia’s Matija Tijanic. The North African boxer continued his strong performance in the second and third rounds therefore Ait Bekka can prepares to his next bout in Sombor.

Vakhid Abbasov claimed gold medal for Russia at the 2019 EUBC European U22 Boxing Championships and moved ahead in the national ranking step by step. As currently AIAB World Champion Andrey Zamkovoy is the best Russian welterweight (69kg) boxer, Abbasov switched to the Serbian national team and has done his debut in the first day at the Golden Gloves Tournament. The 23-year-old ex-Russian boxer was too strong for Serbia’s Uros Draca and spent less than one round in the ring.

One of the Cuban boxers who are attending in the Golden Gloves Tournament is Antonio Bisset who had a tough contest against Serbia’s Dzejlan Toskic but finally his hand was raised after the last gong. In the next welterweight (69kg) bout, Algeria’s Chemseddine Kramou used up his experiences to catch Moldova’s technician Davron Bozorov. The 24-year-old Algerian did not qualify for the Olympic Games yet but he opened his campaign with a success against the Moldovan.