Cuba Takes 4 Golds at Boxing World Champs -- On the Scene

(ATR) The AIBA boxing world championships came to a close Thursday evening in Doha, Qatar with Cuba besting all 74 countries in the tournament with four gold medals.

Thursday marked the second day of the final round as 10 boxers competed in five weight categories for the title of world champion. The final day saw the largest crowd of the tournament with fans from Cuba, Ireland and Russia showing the most support for their country’s boxers.

Cuba took home two golds on the final day to match their performance from day one of the finals.

The two Cuban gold medalists on Thursday each took home their third consecutive gold medal at the world championships. Lazaro Alvarez defeated Albert Selimov of Azerbaijan with the only technical knockout of the finals for the title of men’s lightweight champion. Julio La Cruz beat Joseph Ward from Ireland for his third world title in the light-heavyweight category.

Cuba would also finish with a silver medalist on each day of the final round to bring their total medal count to seven. The seven medals placed Cuba atop the medal count for the tournament, with Uzbekistan finishing second with six medals and Russia and Azerbaijan tying for third with four.

While Joseph Ward was unable to bring home a gold medal to Ireland, his teammate Michael Conlan was successful in earning the country’s first boxing world title on day one of the finals in the bantamweight category.

Morocco was also able to bring home its first gold medal in men’s boxing with Mohammed Rabii beating defending champion from Kazakhstan Daniyar Yeleussinov. Rabii adds the tile of world champion to his recently earned World Series of Boxing Boxer of the Year award.

Overall, 23 boxers earned qualification spots at the Rio 2016 Olympics, with Cuba sending the most delegates to the Games thus far. There are three more opportunities to qualify for the Games remaining, with the continental championships, AIBA Pro Boxing tournament and World Series of Boxing rankings on deck.

The 18th edition of the boxing championships marks the first time the event was held in the Middle East as well as the first time professional boxers were allowed to compete alongside amateurs at the event. President of Qatar Boxing Federation Yousuf Ali Al Kazim says the event will help broaden the appeal of boxing in the region.

"This event will be a turning point in the development of boxing in our country & the region," said Al Kazim.

These championships also saw a large reduction in the number of concussions and cuts to the face thanks jointly to the discontinued use of head guards and the new Heads Up initiative put in place at the beginning of this tournament.

AIBA president C.K. Wu says there were zero concussions at this year’s tournament and boxers only suffered six facial cuts, a reduction from 43 at the last world championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2013.

The next major event for AIBA is the Rio 2016 test event taking place in December 2015 in Rio de Janeiro.

Women boxers will have their opportunity to qualify for Rio 2016 at the women’s world boxing championships set for January 14-26, 2016 in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Reported and written in Doha, Qatar by KevinNutley.

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