Slovenia's Rok Urbanc (blue) during his bout with Olympic champion
Roberto Cammarelle last night at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan 

Boxing has not yet gripped people in the central European Republic of Slovenia in the same way as other sports, but events at the AIBA World Championships in Milan may help to change that.

Traditionally basketball, ice hockey, football of course, handball and gymnastics all have a healthy following in Slovenia, while alpine skiing is a national pastime. However, although heavyweight Borut Slapnik fell at the first hurdle in Milan, his super-heavyweight compatriot Rok Urbanc became the source of great national pride when he won his first-round match against Milutin Stankovic of Serbia, one of Slovenia's great local rivals.

Urbanc's next opponent was a familiar one: none other than the Olympic champion and home-town favourite Roberto Cammarelle. They had never met in competition, but Urbanc sparred with Cammarelle last month when the Italian visited the AIBA International Training Camp in Assisi. Urbanc was one of nearly 100 boxers from all over the world to benefit from special coaching and facilities at the camp.

Urbanc's second meeting with Cammarelle, last night at the Mediolanum Forum, ended in defeat on points but he was far from downhearted. "He's the best fighter in the world and I'm just happy to have made it through to the end," said Urbanc. "He's very explosive, he's powerful, he's got everything. I'm young and I don't have experience but I will train and hopefully one day I will be like Cammarelle."

Miran Stanovnik, President of the Slovenian Boxing Federation, believes Urbanc has a chance. "His family support him well, everyone in his family lives for boxing and Rok knows boxing is a real sport. He brings that philosophy to Slovenian boxing and is a good promoter for us.

"We are a small country, with a very strong sporting heritage and we are doing our best to connect with AIBA to develop and bring boxing back to the level where it should be. From now on we will be focusing our support on the very young boxers and the women, as we have some good women's boxers.

"But everything comes back to money. There are not enough people to help in the federation and not enough sponsors. However Urbanc's result in his first bout made many people here proud which is a good sign. It means many people are following boxing."