APB action returns this weekend with Jasurbek Latipov looking to thrill his fans once more in Tashkent.
AIBA Pro Boxing arrives in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Saturday evening, starring two of Asia’s top flyweights, Jasurbek Latipov and Sajad Mohammadpour. Iranian Mohammadpour will be looking to overcome home favourite Latipov, who looked in great form as he delivered a memorable TKO of Mongolia’s Gandulam Mungun-Erdene in front of his fans a month ago.
Latipov has claimed bronze medals at both the 2011 and 2013 AIBA World Championships and won four APB contests since joining in 2014. His opponent took silver at the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia two years ago before going on to join the APB circuit in 2015, and will be looking to claim victory in Tashkent.
Two further high-level APB bouts feature on Saturday night’s card with another Uzbek star, Ikboljon Kholdarov taking on Ireland’s former EUBC European Champion Raymond Moylette in the light welterweight clash. Talented Kholdarov took bronze in the 2014 AIBA Youth World Championships in Sofia before joining the elite group this January, and will be looking to make a name for himself against the more experienced Moylette.
In the evening’s welterweight bout, former AIBA World Championship silver medalist and Asian Games winner Dilshod Makhmudov will be looking to follow up his defeat of Spain’s Youba Ndiaye Sissokho a few weeks ago with a win against Turkey’s Onder Sipal, elder brother of current APB Welterweight Champion Onur Sipal.
The second night of APB action in Tashkent saw Zukhriddin Makhkamov and Ulugbek Mubinov follow in Jasurbek Latipov’s footsteps and take impressive wins infront of their home fans at the Uzbekistan Sport Complex on Saturday evening.
Uzbek National Light Heavyweight Champion Makhkamov made his APB debut against Romanian National Champion Alexandru Machedon, hoping to reinforce his claim for a place on the national team. The 23-year-old dominated the opening round using his speed behind a well-organised defence, and an outstanding second round established Makhkamov as the contests’ early leader, a position he refused to let slip as he took a unanimous points win.
In the second bout of the day, Ulugbek Mubinov, silver medalist at the 2013 Asian Confederation Youth Championships, showed why he is one of the country’s top super heavyweights with a brilliant display against Croatia’s Marin Mindoljevic. A combination of fighting spirit, stamina and unusual speed for his size shocked his opponent in the opening rounds, and after Mindoljevic recovered towards the middle of the bout, Mubinov again turned up the heat, taking the second APB win of his career with a unanimous judges’ decision.
The big weekend of APB action got underway on Friday night at the Uzbekistan Sport Complex in the capital Tashkent, with the home fans’ favourite Jasurbek Latipov dominating his match against Mongolia’s Gandulam Mungun-Erdene. It was Latipov’s fourth APB-career win, and he was joined in victory by fellow countrymen Dilshod Makhmudov and Israil Madrimov as the Uzbeks made it a clean sweep.
AIBA World Championship silver medalist Latipov began in determined mood to get a fourth win, using his height and jabs to exploit his opponent’s weak spots and control the opening exchanges. As the Uzbek star began to find his rhythm with some incisive combinations, Mungun-Erdene’s challenge was cut short and the referee awarded Latipov the win by TKO.
Earlier in the evening, former AIBA World Championship silver medalist and Asian Games winner Dilshod Makhmudov returned to AIBA competition against Spain’s European Confederation bronze medalist Youba Ndiaye Sissokho at welterweight. Some powerful attacks had the Spaniard on the back foot early on, and a devastating third round put Makhmudov in control, eventually securing a unanimous points win from the judges.
Jasurbek Latipov proves too strong for Mungun-Erdene as Uzbekistan triumph on APB opening night in Tashkent
Uzbekistan’s 21-year-old Israil Madrimov, silver medallist at the 2014 Asian Games, moved up to middleweight to win the Duisenkul Shopokov Memorial Tournament three weeks ago, and continued that good form against his Indian opponent, former AIBA Youth World Champion Vikas Krishan Yadav. Once again it was the home boxer who took the early initiative and Madrimov refused to let up the offensive pace, building up to a powerful final three minutes after which the judges’ unainmous decision was in no doubt.
AIBA president Dr Ching-Kuo Wu has revealed that the boxing governing body is planning to have professional boxers compete at the forthcoming Rio 2016 boxing event.
Ching-Kuo Wu took over as president in 2006 and has been instrumental to several reforms in the sport. Some of the reforms championed by Wu includes the removal of vest from AIBA endorsed or organised men’s boxing events.
He also ensured that the word “amateur” was removed from its title. Under Wu’s Leadership AIBA started the AIBA Pro Boxing Scheme APB and the World Series Of Boxing.
And In 2013 it was decided that Pro boxers with less than 15 fights to go to the Olympics.
Now in the year of AIBA’s 70th Anniversary the body wants pro boxers to be eligible to fight at the Olympic games in Rio, according to Dr Wu “It is an IOC policy to have the best athletes in the Games, and of the international federations, AIBA is probably the only one without professional athletes in the Olympics.”
AIBA PRESIDENT Dr Ching-Kuo Wu
If the decision to eventually allow Pro Boxers at the Olympic games is ratified by the executive council of AIBA some very popular Pro boxers might just become the main attraction in Rio, but it doesn’t seem like everybody in the boxing fraternity is all for the idea.
Commonwealth Games gold medalist and Former world champion Barry McGuigan is of the opinion that whole idea is a “publicity stunt” stating that the plan to have professional boxers take part in Rio is “crazy”.
AIBA Pro Boxing is preparing to take over the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent for a weekend of pro boxing action this Friday, spearheaded by Mongolia’s Gandulam Mungun-Erdene going up against the Uzbek technician Jasurbek Latipov.
Flyweight star Latipov was silver medalist at the 2013 AIBA World Championships in Almaty, following up the bronze he won in Baku two years previously. In that era his opponent Mungun-Erdene was still boxing at youth level in the light flyweight class, and now he will be looking to mark his territory and possibly cause an upset on Friday.
Joining the headliners on the card for Friday night will be former AIBA World Championship silver medallist and Asian Games winner Dilshod Makhmudov up against Spain’s European Confederation Boxing Championship bronze medallist Youba Ndiaye Sissokho at welterweight.
In the evening’s middleweight contest, Uzbekistan’s 21-year-old Asian Games silver medalist Israil Madrimov has moved up a weight class since Incheon, and will face India’s first APB boxer Vikas Krishan Yadav, gold medalist at the 2010 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships.
Also starring on the second night’s card will be current Uzbek National Light Heavyweight champion Zukhriddin Makhkamov against Romanian National Champion Alexandru Machedon, and home super heavyweight Ulugbek Mubinov versus Croatia’s Marin Mindoljevic.
After a resoundingly successful 2015 for boxing, in which the 2015 AIBA World Championships in Doha were as ambitious as they were spectacular, another epic season of World Series of Boxing action unfolded and the first AIBA Pro Boxing champions were crowned, AIBA is preparing to unveil innovations and initiatives to help grow the sport even further in 2016.
Tuesday 12th January 2016: AIBA celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2016 and will reach the symbolic milestone of 200 National Federation members, underlining boxing’s position among the world’s farthest-reaching, most popular sports and a central pillar of the Olympic Games themselves in this Olympic year.
Rio Test Event
Rio 2016 – the calendar’s grandstand event
Rio 2016 will serve to further enhance both the men’s and women’s boxing prestige, and with 60 boxers out of 286 already qualified, the remaining quota places available at continental championships and International tournaments taking place throughout the first half of the year mean they assume an added importance.
“Olympic qualification opportunities are sure to bring out the very best in our boxers in the first half of this year”, said AIBA President CK Wu. “This is the world’s biggest sporting stage and the competition for places at Rio 2016 will make for an unmissable series of major tournaments, as well as the Women’s World Championships.”
Astana 2016 – To showcase the best women boxers
In 2016 we will also be looking forward to the ninth edition of AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, which will light up Astana, Kazakhstan on 19-27 May and will provide an opportunity to twelve medalists from the three Olympic weight classes – flyweight, lightweight and middleweight –to book their flights to Brazil for August’s grandstand competition. Thus, Rio will further enhance the reputation and standing of women in our sport as the Olympic Games represent a fantastic stage to foster gender equality in the world of sport.
Putting boxer’s first with HeadsUp!
AIBA’s ongoing commitment to putting its boxers first was cemented in 2015 with the launch of a new HeadsUp! campaign to nurture and extend athletes’ careers all the way from grassroots to life outside the ring. The official launch of the far-reaching HeadsUp! campaign in Doha, anchored in the re-education of boxers, coaches and officials to teach the correct way of boxing and make the athletes adopt a better stance, was followed by an important new scholarship program for young boxers in one of Rio de Janeiro’s poorest neighbourhoods. It is a policy that National Federations will be encouraged to follow as AIBA highlights the importance of investing in the sport at every level, with further initiatives to be rolled out throughout 2016.
“We always want to move forward, evolve and look to broaden the appeal of our great sport”, said the AIBA president, “but we will never lose sight of our guiding principles, at the centre of which is the health and wellbeing of our boxers.”
Astana Arlans Kazakhstan WSB Season V Champions
WSB Season VI
AIBA’s unique World Series of Boxing team competition will begin its sixth season on 15 January 2016. Defending champions Astana Arlans Kazakhstan start their campaign against Azerbaijan Baku Fires, and the arrival of two new franchises, Uzbekistan Tigers and Turkey Conquerors, has expanded the preliminary-stage format from two to four groups. Following a busy Draft Pick in December that saw several teams snap up squad members from the considerable pool of extra international talent available, Season VI once again has the potential to provide real fireworks for boxing fans the world over.
New Horizons for AIBA Pro Boxing (APB)
When APB boxers David Graf and Anton Pinchuk went toe-to-toe in Dusseldorf on the undercard of one of the biggest boxing event of last year, Klitschko vs. Fury, it heralded the arrival of AIBA’s Pro Boxing competition onto the world circuit as featured in the Saturday night of boxing in Kyiv on December 12 where two key AIBA Pro Boxing contests starring local talent, the experienced Middleweight Dmytro Mytrofanov facing Ecuador’s Marlo Delgado and Light Welterweight Vyacheslav Kyslytsyn against Qatar’s Thulasi Tharumalingam in the sold out Palace of Sports.
Last year APB’s first cycle crowned 10 World Champions from 7 different countries illustrating the remarkable success of the newborn competition and the pro-style boxing opportunities offered to AIBA Elite boxers.
“For seventy years, AIBA has striven to provide the best possible platform for its boxers to thrive upon”, said President Wu. “More recently, we have nurtured a culture of excellence and professionalism that can be felt at every level of the sport, and one that will be showcased perfectly for the world’s boxing fans in this Olympic year.”
The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has named Brazilian lightweight sensation Robson Donato Conceição its final Boxer of the Month for 2015. The AIBA World Boxing Championships bronze medalist, who also competed in Cycle I of AIBA Pro Boxing (APB), capped an excellent year by winning gold at the Rio Olympic Test Event at the start of December, putting himself in pole position for a Rio 2016 medal having booked his quota place with third place in Doha.
Early career
Born in 1988 in Salvador, Bahia, Robson Conceição began boxing at the age of 12. Five years later he showed his potential with flyweight gold at the 2005 Brazilian National Boxing Championships aged just 17 years-old.
In 2007 he joined the Brazilian national squad, competing at the Beijing Olympics a year later and the 2009 AIBA World Championships in Milan, before registering his first major title at the 2011 World Military Games, securing a place at London 2012 in the process. Having won four preparation tournaments ahead of London, his hopes of success were only dashed by Team GB’s Josh Taylor and a partisan home crowd who proved too much to overcome.
Following an impressive 2013, when he took silver at the Almaty AIBA World Championships in Kazakhstan and the AMBC American Confederation title in Chile, Conceição joined World Series of Boxing for Season IV, finishing the campaign unbeaten. Another impressive AMBC Championships in 2014, this time in Vargas, Venezuela, saw him defeat Cuba’s three-time World Champion Lazaro Alvarez to take gold, confirming his ascension to the world stage.
Third place in Doha at the 2015 AIBA World Championships was enough to secure the Brazilian a deserved Olympic berth at Rio 2016. After beating rivals including Russia’s WSB boxer Adlan Abdurashidov and Great Britain’s EUBC European Confederation Champion Joseph Cordina, the lightweight star only lost out to Azerbaijan’s former World Champion Albert Selimov in the semi-final.
The first Brazilian to qualify for Rio 2016, Conceição underlined his Olympic potential at the start of December with a comprehensive win at the Rio Test Event in the city’s Riocentro venue. A tight semi-final triumph over Great Britain’s promising Luke McCormack and a final victory over Uzbekistan’s APB Champion Hurshid Tojibaev gave a precious taste of victory that Robson Conceição will be desperately hoping to repeat infant of his adoring home fans in August.
International Boxing Association (AIBA) has named Brazilian lightweight sensation Robson Donato Conceição its final Boxer of the Month for 2015
Date of Birth: 25/10/1988
Place of Birth: Salvador, Bahia
Height: 175cm
Residence: Salvador
Stance: Orthodox
Achievements:
2015 – Rio Test Event, Gold medal
2015 – Doha 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships, Doha (QAT), Bronze medal
2015 – AMBC American Confederation Boxing Championships, Vargas (VEN), Gold medal
2014 – South American Games, Santiago de Chile (CHI), Gold medal
2013 – Almaty 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships, Almaty (KAZ), Silver medal
2011 – Pan-American Games, Guadalajara (MEX), Silver medal
2011 – World Military Games, Rio de Janeiro (BRA), Gold medal
2009 – AMBC American Confederation Boxing Championships, Mexico City (MEX), Gold medal
2008 – 2nd Pan-American Olympic Qualification Tournament, Guatemala City (GUA), Gold medal
Following last month’s historic Pinchuk vs Graf bout on the Fury vs Klitschko undercard in Dusseldorf, the next phase of AIBA Pro Boxing involves a thrilling Saturday night of boxing in Kyiv this weekend. The city’s Palace of Sports venue will see Ukrainian Dmytro Mytrofanov take on Ecuador’s Marlo Delgado ahead of K2 Promotions’ hotly anticipated headline event – the fans’ favourite and Olympic heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk’s Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title fight against Cuba’s Pedro Rodriguez.
Middleweight Mytrofanov joined the Ukrainian national team in 2008 and has been building his way to the top ever since. Following two successful seasons with WSB, the 26 year-old joined the AIBA Pro Boxing circuit in October 2014, defeating Romania’s Bogdan Juratoni, Egypt’s Hossam Hussein Bakr Abdin (twice) and France’s Michel Tavares.
His opponent on Saturday night will be Ecuador’s London 2012 Olympian Marlo Delgado. “I am really excited to be a part of this APB match. Mytrofanov is a very strong boxer, but I have trained hard ahead of the bout and I’m confident that we can deliver a true showcase of boxing for the fans in Kyiv,” said Delgado ahead of the bout.
APB stars Mytrofanov and Delgado prepare for Kyiv contest on boxing’s big night in Ukraine
Another Ukrainian, the experienced light welterweight Vyacheslav Kyslytsyn, will also be entering the Palace of Sports ring on Saturday night, determined to round off the year with a precious win as he takes on Qatari APB newcomer Thulasi Tharumalingam.
“I hope to have a big home crowd behind me. The training sessions have gone great, I am in good shape and I am ready to put in a strong performance infront of my home fans,” said Kyslytsyn.
German-born Tharumalingam won his opening APB match in September against Ding Tianlong of China and will also need little motivation to get a result against the home boxer and go into the Olympic year on a high.
Kazakhstan’s 2014 Asian Games champion Anton Pinchuk and Germany’s David Graf went toe-to-toe in Dusseldorf on Saturday evening in the APB heavyweight ranking curtain-raiser for the hotly anticipated bout between Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko.
Graf had won both his recent APB bouts over the summer and Pinchuk had gone 5-2 since October 2014 in the run-up to the match, and it was a suitably tight affair in the city’s Esprit Arena between two superb boxers.
Pinchuk defeats Graf on his home turf to take APB heavyweight top spot on boxing’s big night in Dusseldorf
Former ASBC Asian Champion Pinchuk began at a more considered pace as he looked to conserve his energies for the latter stages of the eight-round contest, but he soon found his range and rhythm in the second round, delivering several powerful blows that the German could not reply to.
Graf then found some success with his left jab as he sought a route through his opponent’s solid defences and, having landed a typically incisive combination in the first minute of the fifth, looked to have the upper hand just after the halfway point, but Pinchuk rallied, finishing strongly to win 77:75 on all three judges’ scorecards and take the top position in the APB heavyweight rankings.
APB boxers David Graf (GER) and Anton Pinchuk (KAZ) will face each other on the undercard of one of the most awaited bouts of this year, the Wladimir Klitschko vs Tyson Fury event on the 28th of November in Dusseldorf, Germany. This event will mark the beginning of a new era and a natural step forward in the expansion of AIBA boxing initiated by President CK Wu since the beginning of his Presidency in 2006.
“We are very pleased with the results of the first year which crowned APB champions across the globe in 10 weight categories. This is a unique opportunity for both boxers to compete in front of more than 40,000 fans in Germany, which participates in our vision for APB development in the future” said AIBA President CK WU.
Heavyweight Graf, won both his APB bouts against tough Argentinian Yamil Peralta and Bulgaria’s Olympic Medalist Tervel Pulev. He will be hoping to extend that record to 3-0, while his opponent Pinchuk has already won 5 bouts in APB, only loosing to double World Champion Clemente Russo. Both boxers boast a similar style in the ring, but Pinchuk will be hoping that his greater big-match experience – including winning Gold at last year’s Asian Games – will help overcome Graf’s mental advantage from what will undoubtedly be a highly vocal and partisan crowd in Dusseldorf.
At the opening press conference on day one of the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships, the President of AIBA Dr Ching-Kuo Wu made the surprise announcement that Manny Pacquiao, one of the greatest boxers of modern times, will be amongst the spectators in Doha.
Pacquiao will arrive in Doha on Thursday and watch the afternoon session.
Highlighting the importance of such a high-profile name coming to the competition, Dr Wu said: “This is the benchmark for future World Championships and I am pleased that Manny Pacquiao accepted my invitation to come and share his thoughts and ideas first hand.”
“We are very happy with the decision to choose Doha to host the 18th edition of our competition. This is a top class venue with top class athletes, and it will make for a fantastic championship”, he said.
Asma Bint Thani al Thani of the Qatar Olympic Committee reflected on the opening ceremony and the impact of the competition on the city. “Last night we saw a breathtaking opening ceremony involving people from all over the world. It is very important for us here to bring this event to life and introduce the noble art of boxing.”
AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu announces Manny Pacquiao will be his special guest at 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Doha
It was a sentiment echoed by Yousuf Ali Al Kazim, president of the Qatar Boxing Federation. “What really left an impression were the key messages of transparency, friendship and effort, values we would like to highlight in our efforts to promote boxing in particular – and sport in general – in Qatar.”
“We want to leave the best possible experience for athletes, spectators and our guests, and we are keen for success and hope to host more AIBA comps like the APB or WSB in the future”, said Al Kazim.
Artem Harutyunyan (GER) the new APB Light Welterweight (64 kg) Champion who defeated Armen Zakaryan (RUS) on 22 September is also a champion with remarkable off the ring activities which attracted attention among local media and boxing fans alike. Indeed, Harutyunyan took the initiative to invite 500 Syrian refugees to his fight in Hamburg in order to show his support and solidarity with them.
He said: “I invited 500 refugees to my fight. I had previously been in a refugee camp in Hamburg and was teaching some boxing lessons. In 1991 my family fled from Armenia to Germany so I know what a hard time the refugees have. I want to offer them a future with the sport of boxing and be a role model for them. Sport can connect people no matter where they are from. I like to help people as much as I can”.
Harutyunyan, a true champion on and off the ring
Surrounded by his supportive fans, friends and family, as well AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu and German Boxing Federation President Jurgen Kyas, Harutyunyan was awarded the prestigious APB Light Welterweight bout following his triumph.
AIBA President Dr Wu praised the boxer’s initiative: “Boxing has the power to change the world and Harutyunyan’s actions embody the values that our sport stands for – respect, solidarity and humility. I am very proud that one of our APB Champions is living these values both inside and outside of the ring”.
AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) World Championship bout in Hamburg was the last in the series of the title events in the pro competition identifying one champion in each weight category of Cycle I of the competition. Fighting in front of a hugely supportive audience in Hamburg, Harutyunyan was awarded the victory by split decision after 12 rounds of intense action.
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