DAY two of the ‘World Boxing Cup: GB Open – Sheffield 2024’ saw the action continue with a series of outstanding bouts as the women’s middleweight (75kg) and men’s light-heavyweight (80kg) competitions got underway and Denmark’s European Games gold medallist, Nikolai Terteryan, entered the tournament in the men’s light-middleweight (71kg) category.
The women’s middleweight division is one of the most competitive categories in the competition and did not disappoint as the packed crowd at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield was treated to a series of excellent contests in the first session of the day.
It included a typically strong performance from Panama’s two-time world medallist and two-time Olympian, Atheyna Bylon, who secured a unanimous victory over Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad.
Another highly experienced boxer in the middleweight category was Sweden’s Love Holgersson who met Cindy Ngamba from IOC Refugee Team. The Swede tried to make the most of her height and reach advantage, however Ngamba showed good head movement to stay away from Holgersson’s jab and used her footspeed to mount a series of counters that saw her get the better of the exchanges on route to a split decision victory.
Speaking in the mixed zone after her bout, Ngamba said: “I am very happy. I stuck to the plan that my coaches and me have been working on. I think it’s common sense. You’ve come across someone that is taller than you, you have to move like they are holding a gun and they’re trying to shoot you. So, I was moving my head and trying to pick shots but making sure that after I throw, I defend I was listening to my coaches and that helped me to stay disciplined.”
The other women’s middleweight contests were dominated by home nation boxers.
England’s Kerry Davis recorded a unanimous points win over Nigeria’s Patricia Mbata while Chantelle Reid delivered an impressive performance in which she inflicted two standing counts on Germany’s Irina Schonberger before the referee stepped-in to halt the contest in round three to set-up a mouthwatering match-up against Ngamba in Friday’s semi-finals.
The start of the light-heavyweight delivered more high-class action and a contrast of styles as Wales’s Taylor Bevan faced-up to Kevin Boakye Schumann from Germany.
The pair were all-square going into round three however Bevan’s aggression and persistent forward movement proved to be decisive as the majority of judges’ scored it in his favour to give the Welshman the narrowest of split decision (3:2) victories.
In the other light-heavyweight matchups, Ben Ehis from Germany outpointed Scotland’s Alan Perrie 5:0 while England’s Ramtin Musah had too much for Jindrich Janecka from Czech Republic, who was subjected to two standing counts before the referee brought the contest to a halt in round three.
Speaking after his win, Ehis said: “The first fight is always a little bit difficult for me but I went in, gave my all and won every round so it was a good start to the tournament. I want to bring the gold medal back home to Germany.”
Other winners in the first session included England’s Kiaran MacDonald and Salah Ibramim from Germany who both secured unanimous victories at flyweight (51kg).
The second session of the day, saw Denmark’s, Paris 2024 bound European Games champion, Nikolai Terteryan take on Tony Jas from the Netherlands at light-middleweight. Despite a game effort from the Dutchman, Terteryan controlled the bout throughout and never had to get out of second gear as he eased to a unanimous victory on all five of the judges’ cards.
The other light-heavyweight contests saw wins for England’s Lewis Richardson and Kelvin Soquessa from the Czech Republic.
The evening’s remaining action was all at light-welterweight (63.5kg) with the stand-out contest being an all-England rumble between Huey Malone and Patris Mughalzai. The pair brought loud cheers from the crowd as they delivered a non-stop scrap which ended with Mughalzai securing a unanimous victory and a place in tomorrow’s semi-finals.
All of today’s results and images from the bouts can be viewed at https://www.englandboxing.org/world-boxing-cup-gb-open/.
Friday’s semi-finals will feature two sessions of boxing, starting at 11:00 and 17:00 and is being streamed live on World Boxing’s YouTube page and the BBC.
World Boxing YouTube
Friday 19th January: 11:00-14:00 GMT and 17:00-20:00 GMT URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UHR9Iyq3GA
BBC:
Friday 19th January: 11:00-14:00 GMT and 17:00-20:00 GMT – BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app. URL: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/boxing/67971065
The ‘World Boxing Cup: GB Open – Sheffield 2024’ is being delivered by England Boxing in association with World Boxing and GB Boxing and is supported by the National Lottery, UK Sport and Sheffield City Council.
World Boxing will be posting updates throughout the competition on its social media channels:
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- X / Twitter – https://twitter.com/RealWorldBoxing
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