Cuba's big boxing show at the Giraldo Cordova Cardin Memorial Tournament got underway with some spectacular preliminaries and quarter-finals for the vast number of supporters who had turned up in force to watch their heroes in the capital city in Havana where the host nation's top athletes once again came to the fore.
Cuba's 20-year-old London Olympian and AIBA Youth World Championships bronze medallist Yosvany Veitia, who is the top favourite in the Light Flyweight class, eliminated his teammate and National Championships bronze medallist Santiago Amador by an impressive 25:10 to advance to the semi-final stages of the event.
The Jordanian team recruited a Cuban coach and decided that they would gain invaluable experience by competing with the talented boxers in Havana. 18-year-old Arab Games silver medallist Abdallah Shamon came up against an extremely gifted fighter as he was defeated by Cuba's Daniel Matellon 23:8.
20-year-old Brandenburg Youth Cup winner Anvar Muzaparov from Kazakhstan, who competed at the 2010 AIBA Youth World Championships, demonstrated a huge improvement in his skills as he was too strong for Turkey's 24-year-old Light Flyweight No.1 and European Championships bronze medallist and London Olympian Ferhat Pehlivan.
Super talented Youth Olympic Games winner Robeisy Ramirez has got gold medal aspirations for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The Cuban Flyweight was classy as he stopped Jordan's 17-year-old AIBA Asian Olympic Qualifying Event quarter-finalist Adel Al-Matbouli early on to secure his place in the last four in Havana.
Sweden's first London Olympian, 21-year-old Anthony Yigit, caused a huge surprise aby beating Turkey's current European Champion Fatih Keles 18:11. The Swedish boxer's footwork was too much for Keles. The Turk has also qualified for the Olympic Games and will be seeking to readdress the balance in London.
Former AIBA World Champion and Panamerican Games winner Roniel Iglesias had some unexpected losses in the last twelve months but the Cuban has been training hard to get back to the levels that had made him such a feared opponent. He managed to qualify for the Olympic Games by winning the Qualifying Event in Rio and now seems to be hitting form at just the right time. On home soil Iglesias put in a solid performance to record a great victory over Kazakhstan's 19-year-old AIBA Junior World Championships bronze medallist Askhat Ualikhanov.
Current Cuban National Champion Ramon Luis is the new Middleweight sensation and a big hope for the next Olympic era. The relatively inexperienced 22-year-old Cuban eliminated Venezuela's Endri Saavedra by a large margin of points and will now meet Kazakhstan's National Youth Championships silver medallist, teenager Saparbay Aydarov, who triumphed over Tunisia's World Military Games silver medallist Hassan Chagtemi 23:14.
Kazakhstan's rising Heavyweight star, 20-year-old Shopokov Memorial Tournament winner Arbek Abduganiyev, shocked Tunisia's National Champion Chedli Jemi, throwing a monstrous amount of precise punches in a one-sided contest that ended with an incredible 30:5 victory for the promising Abduganiyev.
AIBA World Championships quarter-finalist and former AIBA Youth World Champion Erislandy Savon from Cuba has been training hard for his assault on the Super Heavyweight gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games. He once again demonstrated his immense power and speed against Tunisia's Aymen Trabelsi to win in style. Savon will now meet Kazakhstan's Nurzhan Bekzatov who eliminated Colombia's Panamerican Games bronze medallist Isaias Mena by 18:9.
Copyright © 2012 AIBA http://www.aiba.org