The second day of the AIBA European Olympic Qualifying Event Trabzon 2012 sent the winners to the last eight with several surprising results.
Current European Champion and AIBA Youth World Champion 18-year-old Irish Joseph Ward is one of the biggest talent in the World. However he got shocked by Turkey's Bahram Muzaffer only on the second day of competition in Trabzon. The Beijing Olympian Turkish was leading 5:4 after the first round and finally eliminated the top favourite of the light heavyweights by 18:15. Joseph Ward was a big hope for his country in London but he will now have to concentrate only on the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Muzaffer caused the biggest surprise of the day will now meet Latvia's WSB fighter Nikolajs Grisunins in quarter-finals.
In the opening bout of the day, Bocskai Memorial Tournament bronze medallist 20-year-old Moldovan Dmitri Galagot met one of the favourites of the light welterweight category: Irish multiple National Champion Ross Hickey. The Moldovan took a four points lead before the final round and added an incredible last frame to win by an impressive 24:11.
Former AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships silver medallist and Chemistry Cup winner, light welterweight Artem Zaytsev competes for Russia for the very first time. The newcomer offered an excellent performance against Israel's 20-year-old Taha Amara Subhi and advanced to the quarter-finals where he will face Armenia's Ara Puluzyan.
Serbia's veteran Ljubomir Marjanovic who won silver at the 2001 European Junior Championships, eliminated Czech Republic's best boxer, AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Zdenek Chladek. The Czech had the advantage continuously but Marjanovic advanced to the next round thanks to a great last round. The Serbian's next opponent will be Turkey's Prime Ministry Tournament silver medallist, Yakup Sener.
Azerbaijan's newly crowned National Champion 19-year-old Tamerlan Abdullayev met former European Cadet Championships silver medallist Bulgarian Simeon Chamov at welterweight. The result table showed same points on both side after three minutes but Chamov managed to take a two points advantage before the final. After a fierce battle, Abdullayev won the bout by accepted scores and will now meet Ireland's two-time National Champion Adam Nolan.
Hungary's European Champion and AIBA Junior World Champion 24-year-old Balazs Bacskai overwhelmed Estonia's Dmitrij Kormilin. After five minutes the ringside doctor ended this unequal contest. Top favourite Bacskai will now face Turkey's veteran Abdulkadir Koroglu who eliminated former European Champion Belarusian Magomed Nurutdinov at welterweight.
England's former AIBA Cadet World Champion Anthony Ogogo is a great prospect in middleweight. He outpointed his opponent, F.Y.R. of Macedonia's Fatlum Zuta, in the first three minutes and finally won by a large margin. Ogogo's next rival will be European Championships bronze medallist Georgian Jaba Khositashvili who eliminated Lithuania's Vladimir Milevskij 17:9.
Russia's current European Champion Maksim Koptyakov triumphed over Cyprus' best boxer, Kyriakos Spanos by 12:3 in his second contest in Trabzon. His next opponent will be Turkey's AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Adem Kilicci, another favourite in middleweight.
Finland has only sent two athletes to Turkey but after Matti Koota's great opening, their light heavyweight boxer, Bocskai Memorial Tournament bronze medallist Ville Hukkanen also made a great performance. The 20-year-old Finnish triumphed over Greece's WSB fighter Ioannis Militopoulos by 20:10 and will meet Belarus' Grand Prix Usti nad Labem winner Mikhail Dauhaliavets.
Bulgaria's two-time European Championships silver medallist Tervel Pulev is probably the strongest gold medal contender in the heavyweight category. He made a successful debut in Trabzon against Montenegro's Marko Radonjic and clearly won the fight 12:3. Pulev's next opponent will be England's Warren Baister who had a narrow victory over France's Abdoulaye Diane.
European Championships bronze medallist Romanian Mihai Nistor is a very strong boxer who already proved his power in Trabzon knocking out Sweden's Otto Wallin when the result was still 5:5. The super heavyweight advances to the quarter-finals and will face Youth Olympic Games winner French Tony Yoka.
Current European Champion 23-year-old Russian Magomed Omarov had a hard opponent in the last 16 at super heavyweight when he faced Belarus' Athens Olympic Games silver medallist Viktor Zuyev. Omarov started with a 5:1 run and then controlled the whole contest to eliminate his veteran rival. His next opponent will be Croatia's AIBA Youth World Champion 20-year-old Filip Hrgovic.
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