The American Boxing Confederation's Youth Continental Championships will be held in Portoviejo, Ecuador from September 10 where 80 boxers will be expected to take part and compete for the medals in ten weight classes.
The last edition of the Panamerican Youth Championships was held in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic where the Cuban squad dominated this event two years ago and among them 18-year-old Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana became Olympic Champion in London with plenty of medallists joining this elite level since then.
Picturesque Portoviejo has been holding the Golden Belt Youth & Junior Tournament every year therefore the local federation has got valuable experiences organizing international events in the region.
The President of the Ecuadorian Boxing Federation Mr. Alex Arturo Gonzalez Gutierrez said: "We have excellent roads through national government management will, so we are pleased, that once visitors arrive at the airport in Guayaquil there will be no disadvantages in being able to move overland through our provinces."
Boxers who were born in 1994 and in 1995 will be eligible to compete in the upcoming AMBC's Continental Youth Championships. Next to Ecuador, the host nation; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela will also be attending the continental youth event.
The event is a good preparation for the upcoming AIBA Youth World Championships which will be the first worldwide event after the London 2012 Olympics. The competitors are actually teenagers but some of them might become future stars at the elite level for the next Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
Ecuador is one of the most developing boxing nations in the whole continent; their fighters secured seven quotas at the London 2012 Olympics. Their rising stars are Ludy Tenorio and Paul Anangono who both claimed the gold medals in the last edition of the Pan-American Junior Championships while 17-year-old Jean Caicedo has also got great expectations.
Dominican Republic's greatest weapon will be 17-year-old Huascar Ramirez who won the junior continental championships last year and competed already at the elite level in 2012. In despite of his unexpected loss in the national youth event he is one of the top favourites of the Lightweight (60kg) class. The Central American country has got a strong team including Pan-American Junior Champion Sparkinson Almonte, two-time National Youth Champion Joan Santos and virtuoso Alfredo Santiago who will be fighting at the Flyweight (52kg) class.
Brazil's Golden Belt Youth Tournament winner Joedison Teixeira joined the national elite squad this year and has got great expectations in Portoviejo. Guatemala's 17-year-old Lester Martinez competed at the AIBA American Olympic Qualifiers while the Puerto Rican squad also travelled with aces to the competition.
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