Brazilian boxing finished the last stage of the sport’s World Cup, in Sheffield, England, with nine medals. Six were won this Saturday (30), four of which were gold, with Jucielen Romeu, Luiz Oliveira, “Bolinha” (both in the under-57 kilo category); Breno de Carvalho, “Zebim” (up to 63.5 kg), and Joel da Silva (over 92 kg). Rebeca Lima (up to 60 kg) and Viviane Pereira, “Tanque” (up to 75 kg), took silver.
The results gave Brazil the top spot in the tournament’s medal table. In addition to the six podiums this Saturday, the country had three boxers defeated in the semifinals last Friday (29) and who took bronze: Tatiana Chagas (up to 54 kg), Beatriz Soares (up to 66 kg) and Wanderley Pereira, the “Holyfield” (up to 80 kg).
The first medal of the day came from Jucielen, who beat Englishwoman Vivien Parsons by superiority in the evaluation of the five judges in the three rounds of combat. In the following fights, Rebeca and Viviane got the worst of two of the three rounds against South Koreans Yeonji Oh and Suyeon Seong, respectively, taking silver.
Joel da Silva won a gold medal – Andy Chubb/ World Boxing/Disclosure
Brazil returned to the top with Bolinha, winning two rounds compared to one by the Japanese Harada Shudai. Afterwards, Zebim repeated his compatriot’s result, beating Nishiyama Shion, another boxer from Japan. In the last fight, Joel beat the first two rounds against the Italian Diego Lenzi, which led to the gold medal.
The World Cup is part of the World Boxing calendar, the sport’s new international federation, founded in April last year to keep the sport in the Olympics, after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) disaffiliate from the International Boxing Association (IBA) due to corruption and lack of governance. The entity had been suspended for four years and was prevented from organizing boxing at the Games in Tokyo, Japan, and Paris, France.
Boxing has been present at the Olympics since 1904, in Saint Louis, in the United States. Brazil reached the podium for the first time in Mexico City, in 1968, with Servílio de Oliveira (bronze). At the Games in London, England, in 2012, there were three medals, with Adriana Araújo (bronze) and the brothers Yamaguchi (bronze) and Esquiva Falcão (silver).
At Rio 2016, Robson Conceição secured the country’s first Olympic gold in the sport. Five years later, Hebert Conceição repeated the feat in Tokyo, where Beatriz Ferreira (silver) and Abner Teixeira (bronze) also won medals. Bia also returned to the podium in Paris, with bronze.
