AIBA Boxer of the Month – Stanimira Petrova (BUL)
May 13th, 2016 / IBA
The reigning AIBA Women’s World Bantamweight Champion Stanimira Petrova will head to Astana full of confidence in the wake of an excellent run of performances. A silver medal at the AIBA European Olympic Qualification Event in Turkey followed her win at the Strandja Memorial Tournament, making the Bulgarian a clear winner of the latest AIBA Boxer of the Month award.
Born in 1990 in the city of Asenovgrad, Stanimira Petrova only found her way into boxing four years ago at the age of 22, but less than one year later, she would already claim her first title at the Bulgarian Women’s National Team Championships.
That success was followed by her first full national title in early 2014, part of an excellent run that saw Petrova go into her first World Championships in Korea in 2014 determined to take home a medal. After beating American Christina Cruz, Germany’s Azize Nimani, Marine Rostan of France and Russian World Champion Elena Saveleva to reach the final, Petrova’s meteoric rise was sealed with a brilliant win against Italian veteran Marzia Davide. It was her country’s first ever gold in the competition, and thrust the young Bulgarian into the world boxing spotlight.
With the 2016 Olympic Games in her sights, Petrova switched down to the flyweight class after the 2015 European Games, and her impressive reach has since helped her to 16 wins in 19 top-class bouts. An impressive run at the AIBA European Olympic Qualification Event was only halted by current Olympic Champion Nicola Adams in the gold-medal match, but not before she had secured her Olympic quota place.
“I feel so excited that finally I could get the Olympic quota in the AIBA European Olympic Qualification Event in Samsun”, said Petrova, who has also been selected as an ambassador for the 2016 AIBA Women’s World Championships. “My semi-final was the key bout but I was confident in myself and controlled every round. Now I feel I am on the road to Rio but my goal is always the same in all competitions; win my bouts and get the gold, no matter where I box. It is amazing that I was chosen to become AIBA Boxer of the Month, it means a lot to me.”
