Mr. Felipe Martinez is one of the EUBC Board of Directors who is active and energetic in all of the boxing events to increase the results of the Spanish boxers and he supports the European Boxing Confederation’s activities. His hard work paid off in the recent international competitions which was the result of their continuous development since 2017.
The President of the Spanish Boxing Federation is proud of their historic results, which they achieved at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul, Turkey and at the EUBC European Men’s Elite Boxing Championships in Yerevan, Armenia. The Spanish Boxing Federation has just hosted its Elite National Championships in Cartagena where their new teenage stars shined.
“We earned a medal at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships and five at the EUBC European Boxing Championships in Yerevan, Armenia. These are historic for Spanish boxing and this is the result of our hard work which we started together in 2017. We are trying to provide all of the needs of the boxers and they have to concentrate only on their boxing development. This is a strong result also for our head coach, Mr. Rafael Lozano and I am looking forward to a medal at the Paris 2024.
Several of our boxers were injured in the final minute including Jennifer Fernandez, Adrian Thiam and Youba Ndiaye Sissokho therefore they had to miss the Mediterranean Games. Our best boxers were not able to participate at the Spanish Elite National Championships due to the Mediterranean Games but it gave the chance for our younger hopes to secure titles in Cartagena. Many of them spend their first year among the elite boxers and I believe the National Championships was a great joy for them. The Spanish National TV broadcasted the women’s finals for the very first time.
Our next event is the Spanish Schoolboys and Schoolgirls National Championships in Laviana, Asturias where we will have a record number of more than 200 participants. This is only our third Schoolboys and Schoolgirls National Championships but the figures tell us that we are growing and we must keep this advantage for the future. We have programs for the 11-12 year-old talents and also for the 13-14-year-old boxers.
We have a new coaching structure in the Federation but Mr. Rafael Lozano Munoz is the head of the national teams. Two Cuban coaches, Mr. Ernesto Aroche and Mr. Esteban Cuellar, have reinforced the elite national team. Both of them are excellent coaches and adopted our system very quickly and I am sure these are strong strengths for us at the High Performance Centre in Madrid.
We have new coaches for the women, youth and junior teams and the new structure will start from this September. Around 12-15 younger girls will work in the new performance centre in Los Alcazares, Murcia to build up our future. An experienced Cuban coach, Mr. Pablo Rojas was bronze medallist at the Berlin 1995 AIBA World Boxing Championships and joined our professional team.
Boxing in Europe is always strong but there are generational changes in many of the national teams. We are at a good level as we could keep our stars in the national team and I am expecting strong results in the forthcoming two years.
We are planning to continue to offer activities and the best background to our boxers to reach the highest possible level. We are continuing to create our new structure, the star project and the realization of the new specialized boxing centre to be able to continue our development,” said Mr. Felipe Martinez about their success, development and structural changes.