Three reigning AIBA world champions, Detelin Dalakliev of Bulgaria, Roniel Iglesias of Cuba and Artur Beterbiyev of Russia, were crowned kings of the 61st Strandja Memorial Tournament, held in Yambol, Bulgaria, on February 21st.
Dalakliev (54kg) won the gold medal after winning the final bout against AIBA President's Cup winner Orzubek Shaymov of Uzbekistan. It was a nice gift for the local world champion because he celebrated his 27th birthday during the tournament.
Although 21-year-old Iglesias (64kg) lost his final in the Bocskai Memorial Tournament earlier in February, he stepped up his game and won the Strandja event after beating Milan Zlatev of Bulgaria in the bout for the gold.
The boxer with one of the strongest punches in the world, 25-year-old Beterbiyev (81kg), defeated Elshod Rasulov of Uzbekistan once again, duplicating the boxers' final contest from the Milan World Championships and bringing the opponents back together for the third time.
A fourth current world champion, Uzbek Abbos Atoyev (75kg), also competed in the Strandja Tournament but he surprised the spectators when he lost in the semifinal to Beijing Olympic Games bronze medalist Adem Kilicci of Turkey. Kilicci went on to take the gold medal in the middleweight class final when his opponent did not show up and the bout was declared a walkover.
European champion Hovhannes Danielyan of Armenia (48kg) reached the final after beating Stefan Slavchev of Bulgaria with accepted scores. His opponent in the final was 18-year-old Uzbek Jasurbek Latipov who defeated Arena Cup winner Belik Galanov of Russia in the semifinal. Like Kilicci, Danielyan won the final in a walkover as well.
The 25-year-old Aleksander Aleksandrov (51kg), who was only selected to compete in a major tournament on the Bulgarian squad for the first time last year, won the light flyweight class in Yambol after beating Erdal Inanli of Turkey in the final.
Kerem Gurgen of Turkey (57kg) continued his successful performance at the Strandja Tournament where he beat Luben Todorov of Bulgaria in a close final bout, demonstrating to everyone that he has developed his boxing skills a lot since last year.
Beijing Olympian and Asian junior champion Khurshed Tadjibayev of Uzbekistan (60kg) defeated twice Olympic Champion Aleksey Tishchenko of Russia in the semifinal, claiming the biggest victory of his career, before exceeding himself and winning against Angel Dimov of Bulgaria in the final.
After defeating Olympic Games silver medalist Carlos Banteur of Cuba in the semifinal, 20-year-old rising star Uktamjon Rahmonov of Uzbekistan (69kg) won against Erol Ozkan of Turkey by 8:3 in the final, clinching his country's second victory in Yambol.
In the heaviest weight classes, two young Russian athletes, Sergey Kalchugin (91kg) and Sergey Kuzmin (+91kg), who both only claimed bronze medals at their National Championships last year, took the gold medals in the Strandja Tournament in Yambol this year.
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