The fifteen final contests took place at the Cologne Boxing World Cup in Germany where the younger boxers delivered surprises. Natalia Bogdanova of Kazakhstan and Magomed Schachidov of Germany were awarded the best boxers trophies in Cologne.
Altogether 121 boxers from 17 countries participated in Germany from four Confederations in the new edition of the well-known event. Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cuba, Denmark, EUBC Team, Federated States of Micronesia, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine were the competing countries in the Cologne Boxing World Cup.
The competition venue was the Motorworld Köln as in the recent years which has a fantastic car collection and a perfect boxing hall.
The bout of the day
The French management sent almost all of their best boxers to the Cologne Boxing World Cup and following Lounes Hamraoui’s silver medal, one of their promising hopes, Soheb Bouafia earned the title in Germany. The 24-year-old boxer defeated Spain’s star Emmanuel Reyes in a dual match this May which showed his progress. Bouafia had also a strong rival in the finals of the heavyweight (92kg), Germany’s Alexander Okafor and he knew his opponent well enough to build up the right tactics. The French received shots from the German side but his replies guaranteed a tight success for Bouafia.
The surprise of the day
Germany’s Nelvie Tiafack is the reigning EUBC European Elite Champion at the super heavyweight (+92kg) and he won almost all of his contests in 2022. The 23-year-old German was expecting a hard battle against a compatriot, the EUBC European Youth Champion Nikita Putilov, who eliminated a teammate, the Eindhoven Box Cup winner Emmanuel Odiase in the semi-finals. Tiafack was not underestimated his 19-year-old opponent but Putilov worked so hard in these three rounds to deliver an emotional gold medal over the European Champion.
The Round-Up
The first final of the entire Cologne Boxing World Cup was held between Germany’s Maxi Kloetzer and Ukraine’s Yaroslava Marynchuk. Both of them are still in the U22 age group but have strong elite experiences from major championships in 2022. Kloetzer was smaller than her Ukrainian opponent but she landed used an energetic style of boxing to catch Marynchuk with tough shots. The German gained the control, the lead and she was able to share her power well in the three rounds to beat the Ukrainian in the final of the light flyweight (50kg).
The Mongolian girls proved strong developments in all of their main competitions in 2022 such as the ASBC Asian U22 Boxing Championships and the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. The Mongolians shined in the fifth competition day of the running ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Amman and their youngsters all impressed in the finals of the Cologne Boxing World Cup. Erdenedalai Michidmaa defeated Ukraine’s Svitlana Umanska in the final of the bantamweight (54kg) and Enkhjargal Munguntsetseg continued their winning path at the featherweight (57kg). The 20-year-old Badmaarag Ganzorig also defeated a Kazakh opponent as Michidmaa, a top one, the experienced Nazym Ishchanova and earned Mongolia’s third female title in Cologne.
Kazakhstan’s Natalia Bogdanova caused surprises this year especially at the Elorda Cup in Astana on July. The 23-year-old boxer is a native talent in our sport and she proved her strength against the defending champion of the women’s welterweight (66kg), Leonie Mueller earning the Best Woman Boxer Trophy. Germany’s Irina Schoenberger won the last female gold medal of the Cologne Boxing World Cup, she was too tall for EUBC’s Tetiana Petrovych in the final of the middleweight (75kg).
Germany’s Ibrahim Salah has eight years of international experienced despite his age of 24 and he moved back to the flyweight (51kg) after several years. The German boxer promised to increase his intensities and attitude to the hard work and the title of the Cologne Boxing World Cup proved his first success on the new road in 2022. The German defeated a Mongolian boxer, Davaadorj Lkhagvadorj in the final and his teammate, Ousainou Hansen became the second male winner in Cologne. Hansen had a 30-year-old Mongolian opponent, Enkh-Amar Kharkhuu, a reigning ASBC Asian Champion but he managed to win this featherweight (57kg) final in Cologne.
Germany’s EUBC European Boxing Championships bronze medallist Magomed Schachidov delivered sensational performance in the entire Cologne Boxing World Cup and he managed to win the light middleweight (71kg) against Kazakhstan’s Nurzhan Amangeldi. Another top German, Kevin Schumann, the silver medallist from the 2021 EUBC U22 European Boxing Championships, had an emerging victory in his new division, at the light heavyweight (80kg) over a young compatriot, Delil Dadaev.