An exhilarating final day of action at the World Boxing Cup Finals 2024 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, England, saw Brazil emerge as the big winners with four gold medals for Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu (50kg), Luiz Oliveira (57kg), Breno De Carvalho (63.5kg) and Joel Ramos Da Silva (92kg+).
The only reverse on a triumphant day for the Brazilian team came in the women’s middleweight (75kg) contest where South Korean’s Paris Olympian, Suyeon Seong, outpointed Viviani Pereira.
One of the best wins of the day for Brazil came in a high-class men’s featherweight (57kg) final between two Paris Olympians which saw Luiz Oliveira narrowly outpoint (3-2) Shudai Harada, of Japan, to land gold.
Speaking in the mixed zone after the fight, a delighted Oliveira said: “I certainly knew I had won this fight. My opponent is a tough opponent, but I managed to overcome it. And that’s it. Another one for Brazil, another gold. I ended the year with a flourish.
“This has been a very good event organized by World Boxing. A world-class structure and I am very happy. I just want to thank World Boxing, thank my team and thank my family. To all the people who were there cheering for me, thank you very much. Another gold for us – that’s it, the mission is accomplished. We came here, we accomplished it with another gold and from now on that’s the only way it’s going to be.
“My next step is to enjoy a well-deserved vacation, and right after the vacation I’ll get back to work hard, because 2025 promises a world championship and I want to show myself to be the best in the world.”
The next best performing country on the final day was England with three wins as Dione Burman (66kg), Odel Kamara (71kg) and Dimeji Shittu (80kg) struck gold for the hosts.
South Korea secured two places on top of the podium, while Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Mongolia each had a single gold medallist. No medals were handed out in the heavyweight (92kg) division as the final could not take place owing to injury.
Two of the standout performances on finals day came from Brazil’s Paris 2024 Olympian, Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu, and England’s Dimeji Shittu.
In the women’s featherweight final, Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu, showed her full range of skills to overcome a game challenge from the home nation’s, Vivien Parsons, whose high-octane style had seen her stop her quarter-final and semi-final opponents.
On day of wafer-thin margins in the men’s finals, England’s Dimeji Shittu, delivered the most convincing victory as he won every round of his light-heavyweight clash with Go Wakaya of Japan.
Shittu said: “I am very happy with my performance. I just went in there today and had fun. I didn’t really put too much emphasis on winning, I just wanted to go and enjoy it.
“I have got people from my club here with me. I don’t really box in the UK very often, being part of the GB Boxing squad, but every time my mates are there, it’s always a buzz. I feed off the energy.
“Just being here watching all the other boxers, all the boxing. I love it, man. I can’t get enough of it. Honestly. I just love boxing. I love watching it, I just love the sport.”
The final day of action opened with six women’s contests that saw boxers from South Korea secure two gold medals as Oh Yeonji and Suyeon Seong enjoyed wins at lightweight (60kg) and middleweight (75kg) respectively.
The two South Korean victories came either side of the only final’s day contest which featured two boxers from the same country as England’s Dione Burman and Kyala Allen clashed at welterweight (66kg).
A see-sawing bout began with Burman using her height and reach to secure an early advantage, however Allen’s all-action style gave her the better of round two. A close third saw Burman do just enough to edge the win by the narrowest of 3-2 split decisions and secure her second gold medal of the year in the World Boxing Cup.
On the challenge of boxing against a teammate who she trains with on a regular basis, Burman said: “It felt a bit weird but she’s a good girl and it was a good fight. I didn’t let it affect my strategy and I just went in calmly and it was great to get the win.”
The other gold medals in the women’s weights went to Japan’s Hikanu Shinohaira at light-flyweight (50kg) and Haiao-Wen Huang from Chinese Taipei at bantamweight (54kg).
The men’s competition began with a top-class flyweight (51kg) scrap which was narrowly edged by Mongolia’s Battulga Aldarkhishig who managed to withstand a barnstorming final round from England’s Ellis Trowbridge to hang on for a 3-2 split decision win.
Two Brazilian wins came next as the highly entertaining Breno De Carvalho overcame Shion Nishiyama of Japan in the light-welterweight division to follow Luiz Oliveira’s victory and join his team mate on top of the podium.
The light-middleweight (71kg) final saw Odel Kamara emerge as one of the breakout stars of Finals week as he defeated Japan’s highly experienced Paris Olympian, Sewonrets Okazawa, to take gold. The bout went to the judges’ scorecards after a clash of heads halted the action in round three however the Englishman had built up a strong lead and was declared the winner.
Demeji Shittu’s light-heavyweight victory over Go Wakaya of Japan was next-up before super-heavyweight, Joel Ramos Da Silva, rounded proceedings off in style for Brazil with a 3-2 win over Italy’s Diego Lenzi to land his country’s fourth gold medal and ensure they were the top performing team on the day.
A full list of the winners from the final day of action is:
| WEIGHT | GOLD | SILVER |
| Women | ||
| 50kg | Hikanu Shinohaira (JAP) | Guanxia Xiong (CHN) |
| 54kg | Haiao-Wen Huang (TPE) | Yesugen Oyuntsetseg (MGL) |
| 57kg | Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu (BRA) | Vivien Parsons (ENG) |
| 60kg | Yeonji Oh (KOR) | Rebeca De Lima Santos (BRA) |
| 66kg | Dione Burman (ENG) | Keylan Allen (ENG) |
| 75kg | Suyeon Seong (KOR) | Viviani Pereira (BRA) |
| Men | ||
| 51kg | Battulga Aldarkhishig (MGL) | Ellis Trowbridge (ENG) |
| 57kg | Luiz Oliveira (BRA) | Shudai Harada (JPN) |
| 63.5kg | Breno De Carvalho (BRA) | Shion Nishiyama (JPN) |
| 71kg | Odel Kamara (ENG) | Sewonrets Okazawa (JPN) |
| 80kg | Dimeji Shittu (ENG) | Go Wakaya (JPN) |
| 92kg + | Joel Ramos Da Silva (BRA) | Diego Lenzi (ITA) |
All of today’s results and images from the bouts can be viewed here.
Every bout from the four days of action in this week’s World Boxing Cup Finals 2024 can be viewed on World Boxing YouTube channel here.
The World Boxing Cup Finals 2024 was organised by England Boxing in association with World Boxing and GB Boxing and was supported by the National Lottery, UK Sport and Sheffield City Council.
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