Russia’s Bator Sagaluev won the bout of his whole career in St. Petersburg making a sensation in the Governor Cup
01 June 2018The crowd of the Governor Cup saw five superb competition days in St. Petersburg where stars fought each other in all of the weight classes making the event to the world class stage. The Russian and the Uzbek boxers have done impressive performance in St. Petersburg both nations achieved four gold medals in the Governor Cup.
St. Petersburg has got experiences hosting top international events following the 2015 AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships and the 2016 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships which big competitions also were hosted in the city. St. Petersburg is also famous of its sport schools and the city produced stars to the boxing world.
The first edition of the Governor Cup was held still in the era of the Soviet Union but the competition became international in the recent 15 years. The Russian stars of the recent one decade such as Vladimir Nikitin, Dmitriy Bivol, two-time AIBA World Champion Misha Aloian, London 2012 Olympic Champion Egor Mekhontcev and Rio 2016 Olympic Games winner Evgeny Tishchenko all won the Governor Cup’s past editions.
The competition has got a big tradition and several top boxers decided to take part in the new edition including Uzbekistan’s two defending Olympic Champions Hasanboy Dusmatov and Shakhobiddin Zoirov as well. The best Russian, Armenian, Kyrgyz, Moldovan, Belarusian and Israeli boxers also attended in the Governor Cup to where Kazakhstan and Cuba also sent teams to compete.
The first gold medal was achieved by Russia’s Baku 2015 European Games winner Bator Sagaluev which was one of the biggest sensations of the competitions in the recent weeks. The Russian light flyweight (49kg) boxer lost to Uzbekistan’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games winner Hasanboy Dusmatov twice in the World Series Boxing but this time he was able to win their third meeting by 3:2 in the final.
Russia’s Hamburg 2017 AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Tamir Galanov won the Governor Cup firstly in 2009 but he was defeated by Kyrgyzstan’s ASBC Asian Champion Azat Usenaliev in the semi-final of the flyweight (52kg). The Kyrgyz boxer continued his winning path and defeated also Kazakhstan’s Azat Makhmetov in the final of the Governor Cup.
Uzbekistan’s Shakhobiddin Zoirov arrived to the Governor Cup as Olympic Champion and favourite of his new category the bantamweight (56kg). The 25-year-old Uzbek star marched into the final following his success against Kyrgyzstan’s Sirodjiddin Abdullaev but unexpectedly he lost his final to another Uzbek talent, Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov which was another big sensation in St. Petersburg.
Russia’s National Champion Albert Batyrgaziyev is a native talent in our sport who impressed in the bouts of the lightweight (60kg) in St. Petersburg. The 20-year-old talent eliminated Cuba’s WSB boxer and National Champion Armando Martinez in the semi-final and used his best combinations to beat Uzbekistan’s young hopeful Shunkor Abdurasulov in the final of the Governor Cup.
Armenia’s Hovhannes Bachkov is the defending EUBC European Champion at the light welterweight (64kg) who used his long distance tactic to beat his Russian opponents as Andrei Kirichenko and Pavel Fedorov in St. Petersburg. Russia’s AIBA World Champion star Vitaliy Dunaytsev had a tough opening contest in the Governor Cup against Kyrgyzstan’s Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov but in the final of the welterweight (69kg) he did his very best.
Russia’s EUBC European U22 Champion Muslim Gadzhimagomedov robbed into the boxing world three years ago as a youth boxer. The 21-year-old talent moved up to the heavyweight (91kg) in the recent months and he used his longer reach to beat Uzbekistan’s Hamburg 2017 AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Sanjar Tursunov in the semi-final and Armenia’s promising Narek Manasyan in the final.
Uzbekistan’s strong trio ASBC Asian Champion Israil Madrimov (75kg), Rio 2016 Olympic Games silver medallist Bektemir Melikuziev (81kg) and Doha 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Bakhodir Jalolov (+91kg) also won their weight classes in St. Petersburg.
