Home boxer Ahmed Hagag claimed a memorable victory in the main event of IBA Champions’ Night Vienna, defeating Serbia’s Vadan Babic in the +92kg division for the IBA Pro European Champion title.

The Austrian overcame his opponent during eight hard-fought rounds at the Hilton Park Hotel.

Hagag, nimbler on his feet, looked to come in on the attack and retreat, while Babic relied more on the brute force in his strikes. Two tough punches in the second round saw the Austrian sporting a cut that required medical treatment, but still the match continued. The Serbian Babic, the more experienced of the pair, continued to look confident in his pursuit and landed a sharp right hand in the fifth round to a tiring Hagag. He hunted the home favourite down again and again, as the Austrian tried to bide his time in a clinch. With two rounds left of the eight-round fight to go, both athletes were working against exhaustion, but crucially – it was Hagag who would pick up the points throughout the match, leading to a win.

Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin Zoirov would have his arm raised at the end of a very close co-main event encounter with Samuel Carmona of Spain in the 54kg division. Carmona was aggressive from the start, startling Zoirov into a position of retreat. While Carmona maintained this stance for most of the first four rounds, the Uzbek returned the favour, coming forward more often and finding ways to manage the deep crouch behind the guard adopted by the Spaniard.

Zoirov’s best work could be seen in the sixth round where combination punches delivered, and the momentum would swing towards him. Little seemed to separate the duo and that was reflected in the judges’ scores – a split decision would go the way of Zoirov.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s Sumbu Nsasi won his 75kg division match with Lulzim Ismaili from North Macedonia, ending during the fifth of six rounds. Nsasi was unforgiving from the start, pummeling his foe as Ismaili tried to maintain contact and a chance of staying in the competition. A fantastic left hand to the body in the fifth round would signal the end for Ismaili, who turned away to the corner, deciding not to answer the count of the referee. As a result, Nsasi was determined the winner, celebrating in style by dancing around the ring.

Yoel Finol continued his great form at IBA Champions’ Night, defeating Samat Zhetibayev from Kazakhstan in the 54kg division.

Finol’s eye-catching maneuvers and fast footwork was the tale of the bout, stringing together several punches without time for the Kazakh to compose himself. When the speed increased, it caused Zhetibayev to face a great amount of punishment. What looked like an attempt at baiting his opponent, Finol took hits to the head unprotected, but quickly duped Zhetibayev into leaving the door open for relentless offense. To the Kazakh’s credit, he remained upright despite several hooks to the head in round seven, but the verdict was only going one way – to the Venezuelan.

Jakhongir Zokirov’s win against Fabio Kaciu from Albania in the +92kg division was very straightforward, after his opponent retired with an elbow injury two minutes into the bout. It came shortly after the Uzbek boxer packed punches to Kaciu against the ropes in the early stages of the first round.

In the first match of the night, Croatia’s Sara Beram defeated Lithuania’s Ana Starovoitova in the women’s 63kg division. After opening rounds being more of a feeling-out process, action became more animated in the third round. While Starovoitova had more success then, the following round saw response from Beram, who caught the Lithuanian with her guard down. Understanding the contest could be decided by a great moment of class in the final two rounds, both returned to testing each other out. Starovoitova from the back foot was unable to match the front-footed Beram, who claimed the victory.

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Media contacts:

Elena Sobol, Head of Communications and PR, International Boxing Association: elena.sobol@iba.sport

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