Russia's European Champion 24-year-old Sergey Kuzmin triumphed at the Governor's Cup in St. Petersburg.
The super heavyweight boxer defeated superstar Roberto Cammarelle of Italy at the European Championships in Moscow last year and went on to secure the gold in front of the home crowd. At the Governor's Cup Kuzmin knocked out his compatriot Maksim Lytkin in the quarter-final and won the gold medal without contest against the Ukraine's National Championships bronze medalist 20-year-old Rostislav Arkhipenko.
A total of 103 boxers from eleven nations competed at the Governor's Cup: Azerbaijan, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
St. Petersburg's local 22-year-old Nikita Tomilov eliminated his compatriot Russian National Championships bronze medalist Valentin Chebochakov by 8:3 in the semi-final and secured the light flyweight gold medal after beating Artem Ivashchenko by a close 6:4.
In the flyweight class a local superstar, European Champion and AIBA World Championships bronze medalist Misha Aloyan defeated 19-year-old Mirbek Sherov of Kyrgyzstan in the semi-final and outpointed Russian U22 National Champion Dmitriy Sotnikov in the final.
Russia's former World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov made his debut with a great victory against Tajikistan's Beijing Olympic Games quarter-finalist Anvar Yunusov but after his excellent opening he was defeated by Uzbekistan's AIBA President's Cup winner Orzubek Shayimov in the semi-final. Despite the Uzbek boxer's great effort he was defeated by local hero Nazir Balayev by 9:1 in the bantamweight final.
St. Petersburg's local lightweight boxer Madadi Nagzibekov who has been boxing for Tajikistan since 2008, walked over to the gold against Israel's 18-year-old youth athlete Roy Kharmats, who shocked Russia's Maksim Dadashev in the semi-final.
AIBA Junior World Championships bronze medalist Artem Zaytsev defeated Tajik National Champion Nazir Piraki in the light welterweight quarter-final and won the gold medal without contest against Uzbekistan's 19-year-old Kobiljon Bobodjanov.
Russian National Championships bronze medalist Shukhrab Shidayev claimed the welterweight gold medal in St. Petersburg after beating European Cup silver medalist Magomedkamil Musayev, while Asian Games silver medalist Uktamjon Rahmonov of Uzbekistan surprisingly failed on his opening bout in the event.
Russia's rising middleweight star National Championships silver medalist Dmitriy Bivol put in an excellent performance with impressive victories at the championships and secured the gold medal, while Uzbekistan's Shukhrat Abdullayev took the silver in the tournament.
Defending AIBA World Champion Yegor Mekhontsev of Russia had an unexpectedly close fight against Uzbekistan Bobur Yuldashev in the quarter-final. One of the best Russian boxers defeated his 19-year-old Central Asian rival by only 2:1 and then demonstrated his power against veteran team-mate Danil Shved in the light heavyweight final. Both boxers have been competing at international level since 2003.
Russia's European Youth Champion Yevgeniy Tishchenko secured a gold medal in St. Petersburg where he triumphed over Kazakhstan's Tammer Tournament winner 19-year-old Aleksey Sevostyanov in the heavyweight final.
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