There have been twenty-six thrilling fights held at the semi-final stage of the AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
The winners will now go on to determine thirteen champions over the next two days at AIBA’s top men’s event.
AIBA President Mr. Umar Kremlev is leading the competition.
“Fair Chance, Fair Fight” is the key theme of the whole competition.
AIBA says it ensures fairness with a revised process for choosing officials, including referees and judges. Independent experts are helping too.
It’s not just the gold medals, belts, and prestigious titles at stake. There’s also huge prize money.
The winners receive $100,000 US dollars (nearly €87,000). For second place, it’s $50,000 US dollars (more than €37,000), and for both bronze medalists, the award is $25,000 US Dollars (more than €18,000).
Julio La Cruz – Cuba
Cuban superstar Julio La Cruz could soon secure his fifth World Championships gold medal and second place in the list of the tournament’s most decorated athletes. He won his first AIBA World Championship back in 2011 and is still at the top of his game.
He’ll face the Italian 23-year-old talent Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine.
Sofiane Oumiha – France
Sofiane Oumiha from France wants to repeat his gold medal success in 2017 in Hamburg and is just one win away.
Two years ago, he couldn’t make it to the semi-finals in Ekaterinburg in Russia and now he sees only one goal ahead.
His next rival is Abdulmalik Khalokov from Uzbekistan.
Sewon Okazawa – Japan
Sewon Okazawa from Japan amazed at the tournament in Serbia and eliminated Ablaikhan Zhussupov from Kazakhstan on the way to the gold. He’ll face Omari Jones from the USA in the decisive contest.
And Japanese athlete, Tomoya Tsuboi also advanced to the gold-medal round.
America and Kazakhstan
The American team’s hard work is paying off at the World Championships with four representatives in the finals.
There are the same number of gold medal contenders from Kazakhstan. The Kazakh team showed their best at the tournament and proved the status of the strong boxing country with a renewed team with many young talents on board.
It could be that these two squads will fight for the lead in the medal table.
Fair Chance Team
For the first time, the Fair Chance Team became part of the competitions, giving an opportunity to those who couldn’t represent their country for various reasons, to compete.
AIBA Ambassadors Roy Jones Junior, Roberto Cammarelle, Zeina Nassar, Milos Bikovic, and Said Taghmaoui were supporting the teams during the whole competition.
The finals will be held at the weekend and will be available to watch on euronews.com.
