Unprecedentedly Poor Performance by Poles at the Stamm Tournament. Only Three Remain

Only three Polish representatives will appear in tomorrow’s semifinals of the 35th Feliks Stamm International Tournament in Warsaw. Nine of our boxers fought today for places in the medal rounds. However, only Damian Durkacz (64 kg), Mateusz Kostecki (69 kg – pictured) and Rafał Perczyński (75 kg) have reached the podium. The victories of this trio are encouraging, especially as they are competing in a very strong edition of the tournament. However, it must already be pointed out that Polish boxers have never performed so poorly in the more than 40-year history of the competition…

Of course, there will still be time for summaries. We hope to see all three in the finals as well. Many fans are wondering, however, why organize such a strong tournament if as many as 14 national-team boxers are not entered. Half of them are currently at a training camp and taking part in sparring sessions in Germany, while the other half have stayed at home, that is, with their clubs.

Poland’s youngest semifinalist, Damian Durkacz, defeated Turkmenistan’s champion Mukhammed Berdybayev on points today, 4-1. Tomorrow, he will cross gloves with world championship bronze medalist from Hamburg, Freudis Rojas. It is a shame that the young American had to face the 2015 Doha world champion and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic bronze medalist, Vitaliy Dunaytsev, as early as the quarterfinals. Placing the two fighters on opposite sides of the draw would have been a more sensible solution, especially since both were in excellent form.

The tournament’s only returning champion from last year, Mateusz Kostecki, did not disappoint. After a very even fight, he defeated highly regarded Qatari Olympian Thulasimaraan Tharumalingam, who has also competed in the AIBA Pro Boxing format, by a 3-2 split decision. Tomorrow, the “commando” from Wieliczka will face Russian southpaw Sergey Sobylinskiy. The Russian defeated our other 19-year-old, alongside Durkacz, Eryk Apresyan, today.

Rafał Perczyński, meanwhile, fought an extremely tight bout with national-team leader and national champion Bartosz Gołębiewski. After the final bell, the hand of the SAKO Gdańsk boxer was raised. Three of the five judges scored the fight in his favor. In the semifinal, the Pole will face Russia’s Gleb Bakshi, who today proved better than Turkmenistan’s national-team leader Nursahat Paziyev.

Unfortunately, despite showing great determination, Dominik Palak (60 kg), Karol Łapawa (64 kg), Stanisław Gibadło (75 kg) and Łukasz Stanioch (81 kg) lost their bouts. The first and last of those named faced particularly difficult opponents – Artur Subkhankulov and Georgiy Kushitashvili. Stanisław bravely stood up to Kazakhstan’s Abay Tolesh, the reigning champion of his country. Karol, meanwhile, could not overcome the awkward Mongolian Bayarkhuu Ganbataar.

QUARTERFINAL RESULTS [March 13, 2018 – winners listed first]

60 KG
Khursant Imankuliyev (Turkmenistan) – Tugoldur Byambatsogt (Mongolia) 5-0
Junel Contancio (Philippines) – Abdelteef Mohammad Sadiq (Qatar) 5-0
Kevin Montano (USA) – Nenad Stancic (Germany) 4-1
Artur Subkhankulov (Russia) – Dominik Palak (Poland) 5-0

64 KG
Freudis Rojas (USA) – Vitaliy Dunaytsev (Russia) 4-1
Damian Durkacz (Poland) – Mukhammed Berdybayev (Turkmenistan) 4-1
Bekdaulet Ibragimov (Kazakhstan) – Maksim Vislaukh (Belarus) 5-0
Bayarkhuu Ganbataar (Mongolia) – Karol Łapawa (Poland) 5-0

69 KG
Mateusz Kostecki (Poland) – Thulasimaraan Tharumalingam (Qatar) 3-2
Sergey Sobylinskiy (Russia) – Eryk Apresyan (Poland) 5-0
Magomed Schachidov (Germany) – Marcus Davidson (USA) 5-0
Aslanbek Shymbergenov (Kazakhstan) – Zdenek Chladek (Czech Republic) 5-0

75 KG
Abay Tolesh (Kazakhstan) – Stanisław Gibadło (Poland) 4-1
Javier Martinez (USA) – Vadzim Pankov (Belarus) 4-1
Gleb Bakshi (Russia) – Nursahat Paziyev (Turkmenistan) 5-0
Rafał Perczyński (Poland) – Bartosz Gołębiewski (Poland) 3-2

81 KG
Georgiy Kushitashvili (Russia) – Łukasz Stanioch (Poland) 5-0
Sean Hemphill (USA) – Nuryagdy Nuryagdiyev (Turkmenistan) 4-1
Adilbek Niyazimbetov (Kazakhstan) – Mikhail Dauhaliavets (Belarus) 4-1