Two-time World medallist Alua Balkibekova from Kazakhstan started her campaign for a gold medal positively, with victory over Kenya’s Veronica Mbithe in the opening session of the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Niš, Serbia.

The two-time Asian champion was made to work hard for the win in the 50kg category, as the Kazakh faced the spritely Kenyan, who refused to slow down. Only close to the end, Balkibekova caused a count against her opponent, further cementing her lead. The 29-year-old has won silver and bronze at the past two World Championships and will now be looking to complete the set with gold in 2025.

The first match of the IBA World Championships was contested between Fatima Herrera of Mexico and the home favorite, Sanja Mitic, also in the 50kg division. During the second round, Herrera looked comfortable with the cleaner shots. The third round saw the Mexican as the clear winner and with that, a unanimous decision in favor of the visitor.

Elsewhere in the weight category, a ferocious pace was set from the start between An Kum Byol of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Alondra Brito from Venezuela. The North Korean was more aggressive of the pair and looked very dangerous, particularly in the opening round. As the match continued, Brito’s quality improved close, but An was able to garner favor with the majority of judges, winning on a 3-2 split decision, confirmed by a bout review – 2-0.

Aysen Taskin from Türkiye earned a second-round stoppage victory over Ethiopia’s Wakjira Wada. The Ethiopian was on the wrong end of two standing counts at the end of round one, and a third would come in the second round, which was enough for the referee to intervene.

Colombian Yerlin Isaura Quinones scored a second-round win by referee’s stoppage against Teona Pirosmanashvili of Georgia, who was counted by the referee on three occasions in round two.

Azerbaijan’s Marjona Savriyeva progressed too after a second-round knee injury to Romanian Mihaela Badescu forced the contest to end early.

Two matches took place in the 60kg weight category, with DPR Korea defeating Venezuela for the second time in the session. This time, Won Un Gyong was the unanimous victor over Krisandy Rios. The victory, much like her compatriot earlier in the evening, came out of the gates fast, but the Venezuelan looked better in the second round. The contest looked close until the final minute when Won started to dominate, giving her the decisive nod in round three.

Also through in the tournament is Elida Kocharyan from Armenia, beating Claudia Nechita from Romania. After a close first round, Kocharyan landed a lovely right hand to drop the Romanian and face a count of eight. While Nechita still looked lively, the Armenian was now firmly in control and going on to win by a unanimous decision.

The last two bouts of the night featured boxers in the +81kg category, with the first being a rematch of the Asian Championships final in December 2024. Once again, it was Yeldana Talipova of Kazakhstan who emerged victorious by unanimous decision over Oltinoy Sotimboeva from Uzbekistan.

The final fight of the night saw Elif Guneri start her quest for a sixth world medal with a victory over Judy Bobbett of Ireland. The Turkish boxer, who has one silver and four bronze medals to her name, was the comfortable winner. Guneri, who has boxed at 81kg for most of her career, recently moved into the +81kg weight division.

Action continues tomorrow with two sessions at the Čair Sports Complex.

IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2025 is live-streamed fully on the IBA YouTube channel. All draws, schedules and results are available on IBA website. Photos can be found on IBA Flickr channel.

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Media contacts:

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