THE FOURTH CHAMPION

After the European Games in Baku the next serious test for Azerba-ijan's boxers was the World Championships in Qatar. Although in the run-up to this reputable competition the prospects for the Azerbaijani team were not very high, the coaches still hoped that their boxers would win two medals. But twice world champion Mahammadrasul Macidov was absent from the national team. In these circumstances it was hard to expect any of our boxers to become champion, but the Azerbaijani masters of the leather gloves justified the hopes placed in them. Achieving the best result at the World Championships in the history of Azerbaijani boxing, they established a new record for number of medals won.

At the end of ten days of competition, Azerbaijan's boxers won 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals, coming home from the World Championships with four medals for the first time. They also won two qualifications for next summer's Olympics.

The greatest success at the championships in Qatar was achieved by Elvin Mamiszada. Conquering all his opponents, he became the fourth world boxing champion in Azerbaijan's history. The first Azerbaijani world champion was Agasi Mammadov in 2003. In 2011 the title of the world's best boxer was won by Mahammadrasul Macidov. Two years later he won this title for the second time in his career. That year Cavid Calabiyev won a gold. And now Elvin Mamiszada has entered his name in the history of our sport. In his first meeting in the ring, the boxer, who was fighting in the 52kg class, eliminated the German Hamza Touba. In the quarter-final he beat the namesake of the world boxing legend, Muhammad Ali from Great Britain. Adopting a unique tactic, Elvin gave his opponent no chance. In the semi-final, he easily dealt with the Algerian, Mahomed Flissi. By winning ahead of time, he proved he was worthy of reaching the final. Here Mamiszada was up against the Cuban, Yoshbani Veitia, who was regarded as the favourite in this category. It was no easy task overcoming this boxer but by choosing the right tactics Elvin triumphed. Concentra-ting more on defence in the first round, Elvin went on the attack towards the end and with precise blows he crushed his opponent and achieved the greatest success of his career. By becoming world champion, Elvin Mamiszada also qualified for the summer Olympics in Brazil next year.

Azerbaijan could have returned from Qatar with two gold medals, as they did two years ago. Unfortunate-ly, injury prevented World and European champion Albert Salimov from taking his place on the rostrum. Because this nationalized foreigner, performing in the 60kg class, has already qualified for the Olympics in the World Boxing Series, his main aim was to be among the medallists of the championships. Albert succeeded in his task. After beating the Irishman Sean McComb, the Frenchman Sofian Ouminaia and the Brazilian Robson Donato, in the final Salimov was up against the strong Cuban, Lazaro Alvarez.  Blood from a wound sustained by our boxer in the first round led to the doctors preventing him from continuing. Although Salimov was leading on points after the first round, his opponent was awarded a technical victory. So the latter became world champion for the third time in his career. 

Abdulqadir Abdullayev took the bronze in the 91kg class. Although he came third, he did not qualify for the Olympics because in this weight class only the winners qualify.

Another of our boxers - Parviz Bagirov - was in a certain sense fortunate. He also won a bronze in the 69kg class, but he did qualify. The reason is that in his class the Moroccan fighter had already won qualification at previous tournaments, so our boxer qualified instead.

By becoming world champion for the first time in his career, Elvin Mamiszada fulfilled his greatest dream. He told R+: "I can hardly speak, I am so happy. The coaches played a big part in my success. I would like to thank all those who had confidence in me. When I reached the final I didn't think about losing at all. This was the most important fight of my career and I had nothing to lose. I took no chances and I kept my opponent at bay in the first rounds. Then I started to win points with precise blows. If I had lost in the final I would never have forgiven myself."

World silver medallist Albert Salimov said he sustained an injury in the semi-final. Although he wanted to carry on fighting, he said the doctors stopped him: "I got an injury in the semi-final. In the final my opponent struck me on the head and the wound started to bleed. The doctors had to intervene. Although I insisted on carrying on, they stopped the fight. So I had to be satisfied with a silver medal. I came very close to winning a World Championship gold medal for the second time in my career. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be."

Despite the success (4 medals and two qualifications), some members of the Azerbaijani team did not come up to expectations. Teymur Aliyev (56 kg) and Lorenzo Sotomayor (64 kg), who were winners at the first European Games, and also bronze medallist in the European Games, Tayfur Aliyev (56 kg) proved to be unprepared for such a crucial tournament. European champion and World Championships bronze medallist Teymur Aliyev was eliminated after the very first bout by the Russian, Pavel Silyagin. Teymur's very poor performance raises a lot of questions. Either the boxer who had been so consistent in recent months in training had problems with his physical preparation or the coaches made the wrong choice by including him in the squad for Qatar.

Sotomayor also lost in the quarter-final to a Russian, Vitaliy Dunaychev. Tayfur Aliyev also went out in the quarter-final. It should be noted that including this boxer in the national team, whose performances were not very convincing, caused general surprise. Although it was expected that Cavid Calabiyev would represent Azerbaijan in this weight class, at the last moment the coaches took a chance and included Tayfur on the list. But the risk didn't pay off.

Elvin Mamiszada, Albert Salimov, Abdulqadir Abdullayev and Parviz Bagirov performed commendably in Qatar. The rest have much to seriously ponder on. Less than a year remains before the Olympics. In that time, we must step up our preparation and win tickets for the most high-profile competition in the world.