The Romanian Boxing Federation’s fourth international competition in 2022, the Moldavian Belt Tournament started with 12 contests in the city of Iasi. Romania’s Saly Marian Palapiuc won the bout of the day in the Moldavian Belt Tournament but Moldova’s Valeriu Razmerita and Hungary’s Rafael Buza were also strong on Day1.
Iasi is a university city in Eastern Romania near to the boarder of Moldova and it has the population of more than 300,000. The Moldavian Belt Tournament is an international competition for the elite women, elite men and youth men boxers in Iasi. The Technical Delegate of the Moldavian Belt Tournament is Mr. Dragoljub Radovic of Montenegro.
The competition could be also preparation for the youth boxers on their road to the IBA Youth World Boxing Championships which will be held in La Nucia-Benidorm on November 13-27. The venue of the Moldavian Belt Tournament is the Polivalenta Hall in the city of Iasi and the IBA Scoring System and Technical Rules use during the competition.
The bout of the day
Romania’s Saly Marian Palapiuc and Ionut Marian Pavel both claimed bronze medals at the 2020 EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships in Sofia. Both boxers are in the youth age group currently and moved up to the bantamweight (54kg). Their meeting was more than important in the first competition day as this bout could decide a spot in the Romanian national team which will participate at the IBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Spain. The judges’ scorecards showed almost equal results after two rounds therefore the final decision was depended on their performance and stamina in the last three minutes. Palapiuc was slightly better in the final round and celebrated his success over his tough compatriot.
The Round-Up
Hungary’s former EUBC European Schoolboys Boxing Championships silver medallist Rafael Buza won the ISF Gymnasiade in France this May and he uses the Moldavian Belt Tournament as preparation for the upcoming IBA Youth World Boxing Championships. The 18-year-old Hungarian faced Romania’s Albert Irimescu as first in Iasi and he landed the better shots in their light welterweight (63.5kg) meeting. Buza has excellent rhythm and his speed was decisive in their meeting in the first day of boxing.
Romania’s Andrei Gavae was a big surprise in the Golden Belt Tournament this April when he won the lightweight (60kg). The Romanian boxer had a young opponent in the first competition day, Bulgaria’s 20-year-old Nikolay Marinov who achieved a silver at the 2019 EUBC Youth European Boxing Championships. The Bulgarian had excellent U22 results in the previous period and his footwork was impressive in their bout in Iasi. Marinov was smarter and technically better than the Romanian boxer and won the contest by split decision.
Samuel Roman is a 19-year-old talent in Romania but he has lot of experiences from the junior and youth international events. The young Romanian worked hard from the first seconds against Ukraine’s Gennadiy Maslennikov and his brave boxing delivered a tight success for Roman at the elite light welterweight (63.5kg). Another young Romanian talent, Andrei Mustet is also newcomer in the elite age group but he won his first contest against Moldova’s EUBC European Elite Boxing Championships competitor Stefan Vozneacovschii at the welterweight (67kg).
Moldova’s Valeriu Razmerita represented his nation already at the 2018 EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships in Anapa and he was member of their squad at the Kielce 2021 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships too. The Moldovan heavyweight (92kg) boxer controlled all of the three rounds against Romania’s Andrei Ionita and proved that he is in promising stage. Moldova’s next winner was Andrei Zaplitniii who walked over Romania’s Ronaldo Marinica Pavel.
