The Eindhoven Box Cup officially returned to the European boxing agenda and 30 contests took place on the first day of boxing. Mauritius’ strong duo, African Champions Merven Clair and Jordy Vadamootoo both impressed on the opening competition day in Eindhoven. France’s Cheikhmar Kone, Ireland’s Carly McNaul and Portugal’s Rita Soares all won their contests by large margin of differences on Day1.
The last edition of the Eindhoven Box Cup was held in October 2019 and due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event returned to the agenda after two and half years of break. Altogether 32 women and 74 elite men boxers are attending in the new edition of the Cup. The Competition Manager of the recent EUBC European Men’s Elite Boxing Championships, Mr. Dragoljub Radovic is the Technical Delegate of the Eindhoven Box Cup.
The second competition day of the Eindhoven Box Cup contains 32 semi-final bouts and several of them are highly anticipated ones.
The bout of the day
One of the top stars of the Eindhoven Box Cup, Mauritius’ All Africa Games winner and two-time Olympian Merven Clair had more than a tough opening battle in the Netherlands on Day1. The 29-year-old light middleweight (71kg) boxer faced Ireland’s returning Dean Walsh in the quarter-final stage of the Cup. The Mauritian No.1 received punches from the Irish boxer in the first round and he had to increase his tempo in the beginning of the second. Both boxers had strong performances in the bout of the first day and three out of the five judges favoured Clair in this contest.
The surprise of the day
Canada’s Irene Fiolek joined their top national team in 2018 and she attended almost all levels of boxing excluding the Olympic Games during her career. The Canadians, as many other teams in Eindhoven, use the event as preparation for the Commonwealth Games. The Canadian lightweight (60kg) boxer faced Nur Sabrina Binte Mohamed Faizal, a young hope who has roots from Singapore. Fiolek controlled almost all of the exchanges in the first round and took the lead on all of the judges’ scorecards but the ringside doctor stopped the contest due to her injury in the second.
The Round-Up
Mauritius’ Jordy Vadamootoo achieved a gold medal at the 2017 AFBC African Boxing Championships as a newcomer in the international stage. After a few years of break, he returned to the national team and the welterweight (67kg) is his new category. The Mauritian boxer has been preparing for the upcoming Commonwealth Games and the Eindhoven Box Cup is one of his last tournaments. The Mauritian was energetic in his first contest and controlled all of the three rounds against Ireland’s Cian Reddy making a sensational comeback in the national squad.
Marine Fatoumata Camara trains and lives in France but she switched her roots to Mali to compete in the international events. Camara was a hard opponent for Italy’s star Irma Testa in the first preliminary round at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. The featherweight (57kg) boxer decided to attend the Eindhoven Box Cup where she opened her campaign against another Italian boxer, Jessica Bellusci. Mali’s pride never stopped attacking in their contest and she won her first contest in Eindhoven where England’s young Elise Glynn also began her route with a fantastic performance.
France sent only five strong boxers to the recent EUBC European Men’s Elite Boxing Championships and two advanced to the finals. Their Cheikhmar Kone did not get the right to compete in Yerevan but he had strong results in the recent months. The light heavyweight (80kg) boxer is powerful and he is famous for his hard shots which he demonstrated on the opening day at the Eindhoven Box Cup. The French dominated the first round against Italy’s Albanian-descent Gjon Ramaj and his combinations were decisive in the second.
Ireland’s Carly McNaul achieved a silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and she is planning not only to repeat that performance in the upcoming new edition but also to take the gold from Birmingham. The Irish girl is in shape this year and Netherlands’ Linda Ooms was not able to stop her attacks in their meeting. Another strong European boxer at the women’s flyweight (52kg), Portugal’s Rita Soares returned to the international events at the Boxam Tournament three months ago and she started the Eindhoven Box Cup with a clear success over Singapore’s Rafhana Binte Rosli.
Live Streaming on Day2
Semi-finals Sunday 14:00 – June 5
Eindhoven Box Cup 2022 – Semi-finals (Ring 1):
https://vimeo.com/716462279
Eindhoven Box Cup 2022 – Semi-finals (Ring 2):
https://vimeo.com/716462666