The finals and the last day of the women’s Round Robin competition took place at the new 42nd Tammer Tournament in Tampere, Finland. Brazil, Finland, Morocco, England and Wales shared the female and male titles in the new edition but altogether 11 countries earned at least one medal.
The registered countries of the Tammer Tournament were from four Confederations: Belgium, Brazil, Cape Verde, England, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Wales. The boxers could compete in two female weight categories and eleven men divisions in the new Tammer Tournament.
The city of Tampere hosted the 1993 World Boxing Championships and the 2000 European Boxing Championships in the past. The host and the head of the organizers of the tournament is the local boxing association and one of our experienced Technical Delegates, Ms. Anna Laukkanen of Finland. Her key role in the Tammer Tournament guaranteed the professional level in the organizations.
The venue of the traditional competition was the Pyynikki Sports Hall as in the previous years in Tampere. After the strict recent period, the event was held in the same way as in 2019.
The bout of the day
Brazil’s Isaias Ribeiro Filho won the 2021 Cologne Boxing World Cup and the young talent was quickly involved to their top squad. The Brazilians are one of the leaders of the boxing world and their squad amazed in the Tammer Tournament as well. The 20-year-old Filho not only advanced to the final of the traditional event but his skills were enough to win the light heavyweight (80kg) in Tampere. His final opponent was England’s 23-year-old Ramtin Musah who spent the recent five years to reach the level of the top boxers. The English was a hard opponent for Filho but the younger Brazilian was slightly better in the exchanges and won the bout of the day.
The surprise of the day
Finland’s 20-year-old Pihla Kaivo-Oja had a tough third opponent at the Tammer Tournament, Brazil’s World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Caroline De Almeida therefore she needed to do her very best. The Finnish talent felt the support of the home crowd and she not only defeated De Almeida but also she won all of the three contests in the Round Robin form of the women’s light flyweight (50kg). Her teammate, the EUBC U22 European Boxing Championships silver medallist Vilma Viitanen impressed in the last competition day and she stopped another Brazilian, Tatiana Chagas at the women’s bantamweight (54kg).
The Round-Up
Wales built up a strong boxing team in the recent four years and their hard work paid off at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England this summer. Their management involved Owain Harris-Allan in the final minute and he impressed at the bantamweight (54kg) in the Games. The 19-year-old Welshman amazed in the semi-finals of the Tammer Tournament and he exceeded that level in the first final of the event. Brazil’s Michael Trindade was a strong rival for the gold medal but the Welsh boxer had the speed and stamina in the third round to decide their tight contest.
Brazil’s AMBC American Champion Luiz Gabriel Oliveira Chalot walked over to the title of the men’s featherweight (57kg) in Tampere. His teammates, such as Yuri Dos Reis, Wanderson Oliveira, Isaias Filho, Ramon Souza, Keno Machado and Abner Junior Teixeira all won their weight categories in the international event. The World Boxing Championships silver medallist Keno Machado kept England’s Patrick Brown on long and he earned a gold medal at the heavyweight (92kg) once again in Tampere. The Olympic Games bronze medallist Abner Junior Teixeira shined at the super heavyweight (+92kg), he subdued Norway’s Omar Shiha in the final.
Morocco sent their best boxers to the 42nd Tammer Tournament and two of their veterans amazed in the day of the finals. Mohamed Hamout is African Champion, Olympian and he is famous of his strong punches which he demonstrated in the final of the lightweight (60kg) in Tampere. The next Moroccan gold medallist was another 29-year-old experienced boxer, Abdelhaq Nadir who serves the national team since 2015. The former WSB boxer had a Latvian rival, Marcis Grundulis at the light welterweight (63.5kg) but he managed to win that contest in the event.
Lewis Richardson eliminated Morocco’s former World Champion Mohammed Rabii in the quarter-finals of the event which was his key contest in the Tammer Tournament. He had a clear success also in the semi-finals of the middleweight (75kg) in Tampere. The 25-year-old English boxer was made a fantastic year and the Tammer Tournament is one of his last competitions in 2022 therefore he had the strong motivation to win it. The EUBC European Boxing Championships silver medallist English boy was excellent in his final from the first seconds until the very last one and he defeated Sweden’s Erik Mendoza by large margin of differences.