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The men’s lightweight tournament saw excellent bouts at the Istanbul Bosphorus International Boxing Tournament

March 17th, 2021 / IBA

The Istanbul Bosphorus International Boxing Tournament saw more than 50 preliminary contests on the second day of boxing. The men’s lightweight (63kg) had several excellent bouts on Day 2, and those winners advanced to the quarter-finals of the event. Turkey’s European Games winner Busenaz Cakiroglu bowed out her first opponent but she had to do her best.

The Istanbul Bosphorus International Boxing Tournament is held in the memory of Turkish officials Mr. Erdinc Güleren, Mr. Abdulaziz Kilic and Mr. Zafer Kaya.

The Istanbul Bosphorus Boxing Tournament has five women and eight men weight categories. Boxers who were born between 1981 and 2002 are eligible to participate in the competition.

The Turkish Boxing Federation’s previous international event, the Ahmet Cömert Tournament had a great tradition being launched in 1986. The federation has the experience of hosting major AIBA and EUBC Boxing Championships in the recent decade, and the new event has been added to the boxing map.

Big fights in the men’s lightweight (63kg)

There were eight tough preliminary contests in the men’s lightweight (63kg) on the second competition day of the Istanbul Bosphorus International Boxing Tournament. Turkey’s experienced Hakan Dogan opened the session with a narrow success over Kyrgyzstan’s newly crowned National Champion, Dmitriy Puchnin. India’s ASBC Asian Champion Shiva Thapa was slightly better than Kazakhstan’s Bakhtiyar Smagulov, while Ukraine’s Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Taras Bondarchuk also had a tight success on Day 2, over Azerbaijan’s Ruslan Rustamov.

Cakiroglu and Sharapova won their difficult contests in the women’s flyweight (51kg)

Turkey has an excellent world-class women’s boxing team and their leader, Busenaz Cakiroglu opened her campaign at the Istanbul Bosphorus International Boxing Tournament. The Turkish boxer is the defending champion of the European Games and at the EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships but she has to work hard on the second day. Cakiroglu used her long-distance tactic against Kazakhstan’s AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships silver medallist Zhaina Shekerbekova and she succeeded against the attacking rival but their bout was tighter than expected. Russia’s Liubov Sharapova, also a strong hope at the women’s flyweight (51kg), had a tough battle against Algeria’s AFBC African Champion Roumaysa Boualem.

Tashiyev and Rustambek Uulu delivered quick triumphs for Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan held its latest Elite National Championships in November 2020, and the event delivered some surprises. Daniyar Jusubaliev’s team holds many young talents who could be excellent fighters in the upcoming years. Zhantoro Tashiyev is only 18 and he has been preparing for the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships but showed his strength at the elite competition. Tashiyev stopped Turkey’s Muhammet Said Budak in the lightweight (63kg) winning the bout by RSC in the first round. His fellow, Nuradin Rustambek Uulu is the defending ASBC Asian Youth Champion in the welterweight (69kg) who also spent less than one round in the ring against Gambia’s Babacarr Janneh.

The next competition day in Istanbul

Altogether, 52 quarter-final contests are to be held in the third competition day of the Istanbul Bosphorus International Boxing Tournament in Turkey. The major international tournament is streamed live here: Ring A and Ring B.