Azerbaijan’s Bilalhabasi Nazarov, Georgia’s Lasha Gagnidze, Greece’s Michail Tsamalidis and the Belarusian female boxers all shined in the finals of the Irakli Abashidze Memorial Tournament in Batumi.
Georgia hosted the Kakauridze U19 Tournament earlier this month but their management decided to arrange another international event in the city of Batumi, the Irakli Abashidze Memorial Tournament.
Altogether 27 female and 71 male boxers participated for the 17 available titles in the Abashidze Memorial Tournament in Batumi.
The Abashidze Memorial Tournament was another preparation event for the European Elite Boxing Championships which will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria on September 15-26.
The bout of the day
Lasha Gagnidze had strong international results in the previous years and he is aiming for a medal in the upcoming European Elite Boxing Championships. He advanced to the finals of the Abashidze Memorial Tournament but he had a hard job to do against Georgia’s European Youth bronze medallist Levan Demurovi at the 65kg. Gagnidze had the good rhythm in the first round of their final but the younger 20-year-old Demurovi also returned to the match in time. The third round was decisive between them and Gagnidze’s routine guaranteed a gold medal for him.
The Round-Up of the finals
Armenia’s Heghine Petrosyan became the first winner at the Abashidze Memorial Tournament in Georgia, she controlled all of the three rounds against a local girl, Pikria Bendeliani at the 48kg final. The next Armenian female boxer, who succeeded, was Lusya Avetisyan, she defeated her compatriot Luiza Grigoryan in the final of the women’s 54kg.
The Belarusians returned to the international events after a break and their veteran Yulia Apanasovich earned a gold medal for them at the women’s 51kg. She had the control against another Belarusian athlete, Iryna Vinahradava in all of the three rounds and the former European medallist Apanasovich made a successful comeback.
The next Belarusian final battle was held at the women’s 70kg, which resulted a very close bout between the winner Aryna Danilchyk and Daria Letsko, the silver medallist of the Abashidze Memorial Tournament. Belarus’ Mariya Pilipenka and another experienced female boxer, Alina Veber both defeated their Armenian and Georgian rivals while a local athlete, Maria Murzina also claimed a gold medal in the women’s part of the tournament.
Azerbaijan’s Bilalhabasi Nazarov claimed a gold medal in the 2025 edition of the European U19 Boxing Championships and he has joined the elite competitions only this January. Nazarov claimed a silver medal at the Great Silk Way Tournament last month, which he switched into a gold in Batumi following his successes over Israel’s David Zakhari today and Georgia’s Lasha Kereselidze to take the title of the men’s 50kg.
Georgia’s Gor Ayvazyan was a gold medallist at the 2023 edition of the European Youth Boxing Championships and the currently 21-year-old boxer has already seven years of international routine. Ayvazyan felt the tempo against Israel’s U23 boxer, Farid Hreish in the final of the men’s 55kg and he performed strongly in this bout.
Georgia’s Giorgi Kapanadze became the main favourite of the men’s 60kg after that Azerbaijan’s Olympian and European Games bronze medallist Tayfur Aliyev lost his semi-final contest. Kapanadze won the first and second rounds in all of the judges’ scorecards against Davit Mushkudiani and his opponent abandoned the unequal final bout in the third.
Georgia’s Giorgi Natroshvili dominated the first round against Saba Papadze and his punches were decision making ones in the second to win the men’s 75kg weight class final in Batumi. Luka Matchutadze and Samvel Ghazaryan faced in the final of the 80kg and the first won their meeting today.
Greece’s Michail Tsamalidis is another European Youth Champion who is aiming strong elite results this year and the 22-year-old boxer was dominant in all of his contests in Batumi. He stopped Georgia’s Irakli Garibashvili in the semi-finals, and Israel’s Ariel Prilutsky was also an easy opponent for the Greek in the final.
Nikoloz Begadze is one of the most experienced boxers in Georgia and he has strong plans at the super heavyweight in 2026. The Georgian was too strong for Tariel Sharikadze in the semi-finals, which was a quick bout, and he dominated all of the rounds for the title against Azerbaijan’s Chanan Najafov.