The 27th Brandenburg Youth Cup started with 25 bouts which were divided into three sessions in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany. Sweden’s Elwin Belezika and England’s Damar Thomas were the stars of the heavyweight (92kg) on Day1 but the Danish team also impressed all of the experts with their impressive performance.
The Brandenburg Youth Cup is one of the traditional youth competitions in the European continent and several stars joined the competition. The Brandenburg Youth Cup was a smaller tournament in 2020 and in 2021 in comparison to the past but the female and male event is now much stronger.
The 27th Brandenburg Youth Cup is the preparation competition for the upcoming IBA Youth World Boxing Championships which will be held in La Nucia on November 13-27.
The bout of the day
Sweden’s Elwin Belezika won international junior competitions in 2021 and he joined the youth age group this January. The 17-year-old Swedish talent found his best category, the heavyweight (92kg) and his bronze medal at the Sofia 2022 EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships showed the excellent start in the youth level. Belezika and his teammates are participating at the Brandenburg Youth Cup where the young talent had a tough fight against Germany’s Arianit Krasniqi. The Swedish hope switched his tempo twice during the contest and despite the German boy’s quick jabs, Belezika celebrated his tight success after the third round.
The Round-Up
Poland’s EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships silver medallist Nikolas Pawlik has fantastic technical skills and he is one of the fastest boxers at the minimumweight (48kg). The Polish talent moved up to the flyweight (51kg) for this event but he has the extraordinary boxing knowledge to control the first round against Canada’s Miguel Estrada. The 17-year-old Pawlik had the better shots from all of the possible angles and won his opening contest at the Brandenburg Youth Cup.
England’s Damar Thomas is the defending EUBC European Youth Champion at the men1s heavyweight (92kg) and he uses the Brandenburg Youth Cup as preparation for the IBA Youth World Boxing Championships. Thomas was 20cm taller than his Hungarian opponent, Jozsef Balogh which determined his tactics in this first contest. The English kept his Hungarian rival on long and controlled all of the three rounds which means he started in the Brandenburg Youth Cup with a clear success.
Denmark’s Sofie Rosshaug earned a bronze medal at the 2021 EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships in Budva and this year, she is in fantastic form. The Danish girl moved down to the light flyweight (50kg) and won the Silesian Women’s Open Tournament against tough rivals. Rosshaug controlled all of the exchanges against Poland’s 17-year-old Oliwia Jakubczyk and won the bout by unanimous decision. Germany’s No.1 in this weight class, Jessica Vollmann, the silver medallist from the annual EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships, won her narrow bout over England’s Ebony Jones.
Netherlands’ Gabriela Weerheim joined the Dutch youth team this January and the 17-year-old boxer is better and better from competitions to competitions. Weerheim had a strong and experienced rival in the first day of boxing but she managed to beat Germany’s Vanessa Fuss unanimously. Another top female boxer of the event, England’s EUBC European Youth Champion Emily Whitworth are fighting also one weight class above than last time as Weerheim, but she was too quick for Germany’s Chistovalantou Koutsochristou at the women’s featherweight (57kg).
The Danish boys had strong preparations in their homeland, and Lucas Bauer was their first male winner in the first session of the Brandenburg Youth Cup. The welterweight (67kg) boxer defeated Canada’s Jacob Blais by split decision and his teammates such as Mikkel Gribsholt and Victor Hoveling continued the Danish winning path in the event. Both defeated experienced boxers in the third session of the first competition day.