The second edition of the Leszek Drogosz Memorial Tournament, Poland’s second biggest international competition after the Feliks Stamm Memorial Tournament was recently held in Kielce, which delivered excellent boxing from the new generation of fighters.

Athlete of the tournament
Brazil’s National Champion Joedison Teixeira won the South American Championships in 2012 at the age of 18 when he was still a youth athlete.

He also claimed a gold medal at the Sportaccord World Combat Games in St. Petersburg, Russia one year ago where he was one of the best athlete in the event.

Teixeira arrived to the venue of the Leszek Drogosz Memorial Tournament as one of the favourites of the Light Welterweight class (64 kg), and he stopped Poland’s promising athlete, 20-year-old Kazimierz Legowski in the semi-finals.

His final opponent was Turkey’s AIBA Youth World Championships bronze medallist Yasin Yilmaz, and Teixeira was able to beat his European rival by unanimous decision.

Team of the tournament
United States of America claimed four gold medals in the Tournament, where their men’s squad had five finalists in Kielce.

Firstly Joshua Franco knocked out Turkey’s Tolgahan Ozturk in the final of the Light Flyweight class (49 kg) and bagged the first US gold of the event.

The new US Flyweight class (52 kg) boxer Malik Jackson had a strong opponent in the final of the category, Armenia’s EUBC European Youth Continental Champion Koryun Soghomonyan but he was able to beat him by split decision.

US Welterweight class (69 kg) National Champion Jose Alday continued their winning path in the event and defeated Poland’s Rafal Perczynski with an impressive performance.

Lenroy “Cam Awesome” Thompson won the Feliks Stamm Memorial Tournament in April, and returned to Poland as favourite of the category.

The most experienced US boxer triumphed over Poland’s Roger Hryniuk in a comfortable bout and secured their fourth gold medal in the Leszek Drogosz Memorial Tournament.

Surprise of the tournament
Poland’s best Women’s Flyweight class (51 kg) boxer Sandra Drabik has been competing at the international level since 2007, but she was not a favourite in the final against Russia’s AIBA Women’s World Champion Elena Savelyeva.

The two experienced boxers put on an entertaining bout in Kielce, and it was the Polish pugilist who won the fight in a small surprise by unanimous decision.

Ones to watch in the future
Poland’s AIBA Women’s World Championships silver medallist 25-year-old Sandra Kruk has a height disadvantage against the other athletes of the Women’s Lightweight class (60 kg, but she put all of her opponents under pressure.

Kruk was too strong for Azerbaijan’s Yana Alekseyevna in the semi-final, and her teammate Kinga Siwa also wasn’t be able to stop her in the gold medal bout.

Mateusz Polski has an aggressive boxing style, and reached the top of the podium in Kielce following his great attacks in the event.

He defeated 19-year-old Marek Pietruczuk in the semi-final and continued the winning path against Hungary’s National Championships silver medallist Sandor Szinavel in the gold medal bout of the Lightweight class (60 kg).

Stat/fact of the tournament
Besides the European nations, both United States and Brazil also sent squads from the American region and claimed six out of the possible thirteen gold medals in Kielce.

List of the winners in the Leszek Drogosz Memorial Tournament
Women’s 51 kg: Sandra Drabik, Poland
Women’s 60 kg: Sandra Kruk, Poland
Women’s 75 kg: Lidia Fidura, Poland
Men’s 49 kg: Joshua Franco, United States
Men’s 52 kg: Malik Jackson, United States
Men’s 56 kg: Carlos Rocha, Brazil
Men’s 60 kg: Mateusz Polski, Poland
Men’s 64 kg: Joedison Teixeira, Brazil
Men’s 69 kg: Jose Alday, United States
Men’s 75 kg: Arman Hovhikyan, Armenia
Men’s 81 kg: Nadir Mehmet Unal, Turkey
Men’s 91 kg: Seyda Keser, Turkey
Men’s +91 kg: Lenroy “Cam Awesome” Thompson, United States

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