Amazing third day of boxing at the Gee Bee Tournament
Two finals and twenty-three semi-finals featured in the third competition day at the 41st edition of the Gee Bee Tournament in Helsinki today. Ukraine and England earned the first titles of the tournament while Scotland’s Reese Lynch, Germany’s Salah Ibrahim. Lithuania’s Jonas Jazevicius and United States’ Omari Jones won the most exciting contests on Day3.
The Gee Tournament recognized record number of 140 boxers including 48 women on the board. Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, England, Estonia, host Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Ukraine, United States of America, and Wales are the participating countries in the 41st Gee Bee Tournament in Helsinki.
Mr. Waldemar Mencel of Austria is the Technical Delegate of the 41st Gee Bee Tournament. The Gee Bee Tournament will be a preparation competition for the upcoming European Games, the first qualifier of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The bout of the day
Team GB sent two boxers to Helsinki at the light welterweight (63.5kg) and Reese Lynch and Joe Tyers had to box each other for the final. The Scotsman did not find the best fighting distance in the first round of this semi-final and Tyers had the advantage after three minutes. Lynch starts sometimes slowly and as expected he switched to a higher tempo and remained his chance alive to win their tactical contest. The Scottish boxer landed the better shots in the last round and he turned back this big chess game between the two tall guys. Lynch will now meet for the title United States’ young Emilio Garcia, his last opponent eliminated Canada’s Wyatt Sanford.
The Round-Up
Germany’s Salah Ibrahim is in different level this year in comparison to the previous seasons and he opened 2023 with a gold medal at the strong Bocskai Memorial Tournament. The German is very tall at the flyweight (51kg) and he used his 15cm height advantage against Canada’s quick Justin Parina. The Canadian tried to reduce the fighting range but he was not enough experienced to do that effectively and the German will now meet for the gold England’s European Boxing Championships silver medallist Kieran McDonald who eliminated a young Welsh talent.
Germany’s next boxer in the semi-finals was Murat Yildirim who moved down to the featherweight (57kg) to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. He had a few difficulties against Wales’ 19-year-old Owain Harris-Allan in the first round who competes mostly at the bantamweight (54kg). The Welsh boy opened the second round with a tough shot but Yildirim also replied with a powerful combination in their remarkable bout. The spectacular contest was a good promotion of boxing and after three tough rounds the judges selected Yildirim as the winner of the semi-final due to his finish. Yildirim’s final opponent will be Denmark’s Frederik Lundgaard Jensen who walked over to the title bout.
Canada’s Jonathan Hannah has some experiences in European events and he proved his fighting style once again in his semi-final at the men’s middleweight (75kg). Dave Brett’s pupil was stronger in the exchanges than Finland’s Savon Suroosh and the referee had to count the inexperienced local boxer twice in the first and second rounds. The Finnish boxer survived the most dangerous periods in these rounds but Hannah has finished the job in the third when the referee confirmed his RSC success. The Canadian will now meet for the title Lithuania’s strong Aleksandr Trofimciuk who had a tight success over Finland’s Benjamin Eriksson in their semi-final.
The second Lithuanian semi-finalist, Jonas Jazevicius also succeeded at the Gee Bee Tournament, the super heavyweight (+92kg) boxer turned back his contest on Day3. Jazevicius adopted the rhythm of his Canadian opponent, Jerome Feujio but he had disadvantage after two rounds. The Lithuanian made a strong finish in this heavy bout and his stamina was enough to secure the victory in this contest. Netherlands’ Stan Bertens was also down on the judges’ scorecards after one round but he smashed Finland’s Daniil Rantanen in the second.
Finland’s Pihla Kaivo-Oja, the medallist from the recent editions of the European U22 Boxing Championships, opened her campaign with a success over a Danish opponent on Day2. The 20-year-old Finnish talent was patient in her semi-final against Canada’s Anne Marcotte and tried to overcame the North American in the attacks. Kaivo-Oja boxed with routine as a real senior and her strategy paid off in this semi-final bout over the Canadian who has just moved up from the minimumweight (48kg). Kaivo-Oja is a finalist at the light flyweight (50kg) now and she will fight for the gold Ukraine’s veteran Tetiana Kob.
Finland’s next young female boxer, Vilma Viitanen was also aiming for a place in the final as her teammate, Pihla Kaivo-Oja but she had a more difficult opponent, Alyssa Mendoza from the United States. The European U22 Championships silver medallist Viitanen moved back to the featherweight (57kg) and she had the speed against the strong US girl to build up some advantage after six minutes of fight. Mendoza increased her speed in the third round but her efforts were not enough to turn back their semi-final which means that Viitanen will box for the title with Ukraine’s Marianna Basanets.
United States’ World Boxing Championships silver medallist Omari Jones was a hard target for Canada’s Junior Petanqui in the first round of their light middleweight (71kg) semi-final. The Canadian has less than 50 contests during his career but he had some outstanding actions in the second round and he became competitive against the US star. Jones has dome tricky shots in the last round but Petanqui was also competitive in their semi-final therefore the US boxer had to do his very best to win this crucial battle. Jones can expect an even harder final against Wales’ Ioan Croft who earned medals in all of his big championships in 2022.
England’s Demie-Jade Resztan, the silver medallist from the 2019 European Women’s Boxing Championships, was not enough shape in the first round against Ukraine’s Iulia Demianenko and she received several shots from her opponent. The Ukrainian boxed over her previous level, she had the speed to catch Resztan but the English girl also increased her rhythm in this final bout. The second Ukraine vs. England final bout Maria Bova defeated Hannah Robinson at the women’s light welterweight (63kg).
The quote of the day
“I won my important semi-final bout at the Gee Bee Tournament today but I have to still keep the focus tomorrow. The final is on Sunday and I am ready for that,” added Finland’s Pihla Kaivo-Oja.