Boxing: Update, Athlete Quotas Confirmed

With AIBA Pro Boxing, the World Series of Boxing and AIBA itself offering three different pathways for men to qualify to the Olympics some nations and some athletes have qualified over two or more pathways. With only one athlete per nation per weight class allowed nations had to choose which athlete will participate. Nations had until December 4th 2015 to confirm their choice. The declined spot went to the next highest ranked athlete from that pathway.

After reallocations Russia and Cuba lead all nations with eight and seven qualified athletes respectively and a total of 24 nations have qualified at least one athlete. The next qualification phase is continental qualifiers. The 60 athletes already qualified in each weight class is as follows.

 

Athletes by Event

Men’s -49kg

1. Joahnys Argilagos (CUB)
2. Patrick Barnes (IRL)
3. Vasilii Egorov (RUS)
4. Lyu Bin (CHN)
5. Birzhan Zhakypov (KAZ)

Men’s -52kg

1. Misha Aloian (RUS)
2. Jeyvier Cintron (PUR)
3. Elias Emigdio (MEX)
4. Achraf Kharroubi (MAR)
5. Elvin Mamishzada (AZE)
6. Yosbany Veitia (CUB)

Men’s -56kg

1. Murodjon Akhmadaliev (UZB)
2. Dzmitry Asanau (BLR)
3. Michael Conlan (IRL)
4. Andy Cruz (CUB)
5. Khedafi Djelkhir (FRA)
6. Vladimir Nikitin (RUS)
7. Zhang Jiawei (CHN)

Men’s -60kg

1. Berik Abdrakhmanov (KAZ)
2. Adlan Abdurashidov (RUS)
3. Lazaro Alvarez (CUB)
4. Carlos Balderas Jr (USA)
5. Robson Donato (BRA)
6. Albert Selimov (AZE)
7. Hurshid Tojibaev (UZB)

Men’s -64kg

1. Abdelkader Chadi (ALG)
2. Raul Curiel (MEX)
3. Vitaly Dunaytsev (RUS)
4. Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (UZB)
5. Artem Harutyunyan (GER)
6. Wuttichai Masuk (THA)
7. Yasnier Toldeo (CUB)

Men’s -69kg

1. Parviz Baghirov (AZE)
2. Steven Donnely (IRL)
3. Liu Wei (CHN)
4. Mohammed Rabii (MAR)
5. Onur Sipal (TUR)
6. Daniyar Yeleussinov (KAZ)
7. Andrey Zamkovoy (RUS)

Men’s -75kg

1. Ilyas Abbadi (ALG)
2. Hosam Abdin (EGY)
3. Artem Chebotarev (RUS)
4. Tomasz Jablonski (POL)
5. Adem Kilicci (TUR)
6. Arlen Lopez (CUB)
7. Bektemir Melikuziev (UZB)

Men’s -81kg

1. Mathieu Bauderlique (FRA)
2. Julio La Cruz (CUB)
3. Valentino Manfredonia (ITA)
4. Ehsan Rouzbahani (IRI)
5. Hrvoje Sep (CRO)
6. Joseph Ward (IRL)

Men’s -91kg

1. David Graf (GER)
2. Vassiliy Levit (KAZ)
3. Clemente Russoi (ITA)
4. Evgeny Tishchenko (RUS)

Men’s +91kg

1. Filip Hrgovic (CRO)
2. Mihai Nistor (ROU)
3. Erik Pfeifer (GER)
4. Tony Yoka (FRA)

 

Quotas by Nation

• Russia – 8
• Cuba – 7
• Ireland – 4
• Kazakhstan – 4
• Uzbekistan – 4
• Azerbaijan – 3
• China – 3
• France – 3
• Germany – 3
• Algeria – 2
• Croatia – 2
• Italy – 2
• Mexico – 2
• Morocco – 2
• Turkey – 2
• Belarus – 1
• Brazil – 1
• Egypt – 1
• Iran – 1
• Poland – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• Romania – 1
• Thailand – 1
• United States – 1

 

References

• AIBA. List of Qualified Boxers For Olympic Games Rio 2016. Access on December 9 2015.

Boxing: Cuba Wins Four Titles at Men’s World Championships

Cuba led all nations by winning four titles at the 2015 Men’s World Boxing Championships. In terms of Olympic qualification each weight class had a different number of quotas. Namely, the heavyweight and super heavyweight were given one quota for the top ranked athlete, the light flyweight, flyweight and light heavyweight were given two and the bantamweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight and middleweight were given three. The Men’s World Boxing Championships were held in Doha, Qatar from October 5th to October 15th 2015.

Cuba was the most impressive nation at the championships; they were the only nation to qualify athletes in all 10 weight classes and in the end they won four titles (light flyweight, lightweight, middleweight and light heavyweight) and qualified to the Olympics in five events (flyweight). Cuba could have had another quota, but Yasniel Toledo had to withdraw from the Olympic box-off against Thailand’s Wuttichai Masuk in the light welterweight division due to injury.

Russia was the only other nation to have won multiple titles by winning the light welterweight and heavyweight divisions. They also won another quota by virtue of their silver medalist performance in the light flyweight.

History was made for Ireland and Morocco as they won their first championship title when Michael Conlan and Mohammed Rabii won the bantamweight and welterweight respectively. Ireland’s Joe Ward also qualified in the light heavyweight by finishing runner-up. The other title winners were Elvin Mamishzada of Azerbaijan (flyweight) and Tony Yoka of France (super heavyweight). Azerbaijan was also able to qualify in the lightweight division. Despite not winning any title Uzbekistan was able to secure four quotas base on their athlete’s performance (bantamweight, lightweight, light welterweight and middleweight).

Due to the three pronged qualification format in men’s boxing some nations are over the maximum qualification quota (one per event) or may even have athletes which have qualified through more than one qualification process. It is up to the nations on which quota they will use while the unused quota will be reallocated to the next best nation. Nations have until December 4th 2015 to decide which quota to use and hopefully at around that time I will update the reallocation quotas. In terms of actual qualification we will be moving to the continental qualifiers which are scheduled over the next few months into 2016.

QUOTAS BY EVENT

Light Flyweight (-49kg)

1. Cuba
2. Russia

Flyweight (-52kg)

1. Azerbaijan
2. Cuba

Bantamweight (-56kg)

1. Ireland
2. Uzbekistan
3. Belarus

Lightweight (-60kg)

1. Cuba
2. Azerbaijan
3. Uzbekistan

Light Welterweight (-64kg)

1. Russia
2. Uzbekistan
3. Thailand

Welterweight (-69kg)

1. Morocco
2. Kazakhstan
3. China

Middleweight (-75kg)

1. Cuba
2. Uzbekistan
3. Egypt

Light Heavyweight (-81kg)

1. Cuba
2. Ireland

Heavyweight (-91kg)

1. Russia

Super Heavyweight (+91kg)

1. France

Quotas by Nation

• Cuba – 5
• Uzbekistan – 4
• Russia – 3
• Azerbaijan – 2
• Ireland – 2
• Belarus – 1
• China – 1
• Egypt – 1
• France – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Morocco – 1
• Thailand – 1

References

• AIBA. Boxing World Championships Schedule and Results. Access on October 17 2015.

Boxing: 10 AIBA Pro Boxing Challengers and Olympic Spots Have Been Decided

Ten boxers, one from each weight class have qualified to the Olympics by winning the round 2 challengers fight at the 2015 AIBA Pro Boxing. The APB is the only path where professional boxers are able to qualify to the Olympics. The second round was held in different places around the world starting from July 10th and ending on July 30th 2015.

In total nine different nations qualified an athlete with Russia qualifying two; Andrey Zamkovoy in the welterweight and Artem Chebotarev in the middleweight. However because Russia has already qualified an athlete in both of those weight classes through the World Series of Boxing rankings they will have to choose which athlete will represent them at the Olympics. Should they not choose Zamkovoy or Chebotarev the next best athlete from here will qualify, specifically the opponents they just defeated; Gyula Kate of Hungary and Bogdan Juratoni of Romania in the welterweight and middleweight events respectively.

The other boxers to have qualified were Birzhan Zhakypov of Kazakhstan (light flyweight), Elias Emigdio of Mexico (flyweight), Zhang Jiawei of China (bantamweight), Hurshid Tojibaev of Uzbekistan (lightweight), Artem Harutyunyan of Germany (light welterweight), Mathieu Bauderlique of France (light heavyweight), Clemente Russo of Italy (heavyweight) and Mihai Nistor of Romania (super heavyweight)

Mathieu Bauderlique’s qualification was a bit confusing as Spas Genov of Bulgaria was initially given the quota as the match was ended early when Genov received a cut to the forehead. However, upon review it was Bauderlique that was given the quota.

The 10 challengers will meet the champions who have previously qualified to the Olympics later this year. For these athletes to be officially qualified to the Olympics they must participate in the champion title fight. Professional boxers will have one more opportunity to qualify and it will be at the APB and WSB combined qualification event to be held in 2016.

Quotas by Nation

• Russia – 2*
• China – 1
• France – 1
• Germany – 1
• Italy – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Mexico – 1
• Romania – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1

*Must choose between APB and WSB boxers

References

APB. AIBA Pro Boxing Results. Access on August 3 2015.

Boxing: Cuba and the Cuba Domadores lead the way at the end of the WSB Regular Season

The World Series of Boxing is a league created by AIBA where boxers with few professional bouts compete in teams using the 10 point system. It was meant to be a bridge connecting amateurs to professional boxing. Entering in its fifth season and for the second Olympics this league offers Olympic qualification spots for athletes. An expanded 17 quotas (1 in -49kg, -91kg and +91kg and 2 in the other seven categories) are up for grabs to the top rank athletes at the end of the regular season.

The format of this league consisted of 16 teams that were split into 2 groups of 8 teams. Each team played the other team twice for a total of 14 matches while each weight category competed in a total of 7 events. The top team from each group goes to the semifinals while second and third qualifies to the quarterfinals. The regular season for the series began on January 15th 2015 and ended April 27th 2015.

In Group A it was the defending champions the Cuba Domadores which qualified to the semifinals finishing a perfect 14-0 in the regular season including a 63-7 individual bout record. Second place went to the Russian Boxing Team and third went to the Mexico Guerreros.

In Group B the Astana Arlans Kazakhstan also placed a similar dominate performance by finishing the regular season with a 13-1 record and will be the favourites to challenge the Cuba Domadores for the league title. Second place went to the Azerbaijan Baku Fires and third went to the Italian Thunder.

In terms of Olympic qualification it was Cuba that were the big winners by qualifying in 5 different categories (-52kg, -60kg, -64kg, -75kg and -81kg). Unsurprisingly many of the qualified athletes were former World and Olympic medalists including Yosvany Veitia Soto (bronze in 2013 Worlds), Lazaro Alvarez Estrada (gold in 2011 and 2013 Worlds, bronze in 2012 Olympics), Yasniel Toledo Lopez (silver in 2011 and 2013 Worlds, bronze in 2012 Olympics) and Julio Cesar la Cruz Peraza (gold in 2011 and 2013 Worlds).

Other nations with multiple qualified athletes included Russia in 3 categories (-56kg, -69kg and -75kg); including 2013 world silver medalist Vladimir Nikitin, Ireland in 2 categories (-49kg and -56kg); includeing 2008 and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Patrick Barnes and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Michael Conlan.

The other quotas went to Azerbaijan (-60kg), Croatia (+91kg), Italy (-81kg), Kazakhstan (-91kg), Mexico (-64kg), Morocco (-69kg) and Puerto Rico (-52kg).

For athletes participating in the World Series of Boxing there will be one more qualifying event, a combined final qualification event with athletes from AIBA Pro Boxing. Overall Russia leads all nations in qualification so far with 6/10 men’s events already qualified.

With AIBA trying to find some balance between professional, semi-professional and strictly amateur qualification has become a bit complicated given you have three disciplines all trying to qualify for one event. I am following the hierarchy set by AIBA, but like in all events it is up to the nation to confirm each spot and we could see cases where nations may withdraw their pro boxer in favour of their amateur boxer. But until the nation reveals their choice I will follow the hierarchy.

Quotas by Event

Men’s -49kg

• Ireland (Patrick Barnes)

Men’s -52kg

• Cuba (Yosbany Veitia Soto)
• Puerto Rico (Jeyvier Cintron Ocasio)

Men’s -56kg

• Ireland (Michael Conlan)
• Russia (Vladimir Nikitin)

Men’s -60kg

• Azerbaijan (Albert Selimov)
• Cuba (Lazaro Alvarez Estrada)

Men’s -64kg

• Cuba (Yasnier Toledo Lopez)
• Mexico (Raul Curiel Garcia)

Men’s -69kg

• Morocco (Mohammed Rabii)
• Russia (Radzhab Butaev)

Men’s -75kg

• Cuba (Arlen Lopez Cardona)
• Russia (Petr Khamukov)

Men’s -81kg

• Cuba (Julio Cesar la Cruz Peraza)
• Italy (Valentino Manfredonia)

Men’s -91kg

• Kazakhstan (Vassiliy Levit)

Men’s +91kg

• Croatia (Filip Hrgovic)

Quotas by Nation

• Cuba – 5
• Russia – 3
• Ireland – 2
• Azerbaijan – 1
• Croatia – 1
• Italy – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1
• Mexico – 1
• Morocco – 1
• Puerto Rico  – 1

References

• WSB. 2015 World Series of Boxing Rankings. Access on April 26 2015.

Boxing: AIBA Pro Boxing Champions Crowned

As Olympic boxing slowly steps away from being strictly an amateur sport AIBA has created a pro boxing competition where athletes can turn professional yet still remain eligible for the Olympics. The champion of each weight class along with the first challenger at the end of the first cycle in 2015 will qualify to the Olympics. While the challengers will not be known until later this year the first 10 champions of each weight were decided at various locations from January 23rd to February 19th 2015.

With three world champions (Flyweight, Light Welterweight and Heavyweight) Russia is well represented, Turkey is second with two (Welterweight and Middleweight) while China (Light Flyweight), France (Bantamweight), Germany (Super Heavyweight), Iran (Light Heavyweight) and Kazakhstan (Lightweight) all have a single champion.

Also to note are the boxers ranked second to fifth in each category because those are the only boxers that are able to become the first challenger by the end of the first cycle in 2015. Overall I find the AIBA Pro Boxing circuit to be a bit confusing, but that may have been because this was the first season. Now with a proper ladder of champion to lowest ranked challenger things should become a bit easier to understand.

Quotas by Nation

• Russia – 3
• Turkey – 2
• China – 1
• France – 1
• Germany – 1
• Iran – 1
• Kazakhstan – 1

Reference

• AIBA. AIBA Pro Boxing January 2015 Results. Access on March 13 2015.
• AIBA. AIBA Pro Boxing February 2015 Results. Access on March 13 2015.
• insidethegames. AIBA Pro Boxing cycles launched with Rio 2016 qualification on the agenda. Access on March 13 2015.