The exciting 44th Gee Bee Tournament opened with its first competition day in Helsinki, Finland where 19 bouts were on the schedule of the session. Kazakhstan’s 37-year-old veteran Zhaina Shekerbekova won the bout of the day against the young Dutch talent, Gabriella Weerheim.
The Gee Bee Tournament is a great international competition with excellent possibilities to prepare for the big championships this year, including the European Elite Boxing Championships.
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, United States of America and Wales are the participating countries in the upcoming edition in Helsinki.
The bout of the day
Netherlands’ Gabriella Weerheim achieved a silver medal at the Boxam Tournament in Spain where she began the busy year. The young Dutch moved down to the 54kg weight class and she had an opponent from Kazakhstan, the Olympian Zhaina Shekerbekova with the similar physical skills. Both boxers landed punches from closer range and the final verdict was depended only on their performance in the last round. The Asian Champion Kazakh is 16-years-older than Weerheim and only her routine was the difference between them today.
The surprise of the day
France’s Djamel Djemmal bagged a bronze medal at the 2024 Youth World Boxing Championships and he was named as one of the favourites in the men’s 70kg weight class. The 20-year-old French did not find the best fighting distance in the first round against Scotland’s Taylor McMahon and his opponent took the lead after three busy minutes. The Scottish boxer was in shape and his stylish boxing delivered a surprise success over one of the favourites.
The Round-Up
Italy’s Paris Olympian Sirine Charaabi bagged a bronze medal at the 2025 World Boxing Championships in Liverpool and she used the recent months to develop herself in terms of speed and accuracy. The Italian dominated the first round against Sweden’s Lia Tissell and she was still able to increase her intense of footwork in the second. Charaabi used this contest as a warm-up in Helsinki and she won this 54kg female bout by large margin of difference on the scorecards.
United States’ Jayshannet Ramos Zapata opened the first round better than Scotland’s Stephanie Kernachan and she had the better punches after the tactical start. Ramos controlled also the second round with her punctual combinations but the Scottish girl was a type of never give up. Kernachan, who has been preparing for the upcoming Commonwealth Games with full speed, made brilliant efforts in the last three minutes but Ramos had still the advantage to win their 54kg meeting.
Scotland’s Niamh Mitchell, the former European Junior Champion, earned a gold medal at the Bocskai Memorial Tournament in Hungary last month and she arrived to Helsinki with high hopes. The Scottish is not an experienced elite yet but she used her long reach with confidence in the first and third rounds to beat Kazakhstan’s Anar Tursynbek at the 60kg.
Netherlands’ Youth World Champion Maud Van der Toorn was born in 2005 while her first opponent in Helsinki, Sweden’ Lili Arman is member of the 2007 age group and she is a new elite in the team. Despite Arman’s lack of experience in the elite events, she was highly competitive for the 60kg Dutch girl therefore Van der Toorn needed to keep the focus until the last seconds today.
Belgium’s new female national team member, Sarah Renders made strong first and third rounds against Switzerland’s Noemi Iuva to win their 60kg meeting in Helsinki. The next Dutch boxer in action after Maud Van der Toorn, the U19 World silver medallist Aaliyah Hoppema controlled all of the three rounds against Denmark’s Golden Girl winner Caroline Lauenborg at the 65kg.
Denmark’s Qalid Osman is a new elite team member but he proved his strong progress in the first day of boxing when he eliminated Scotland’s Leo Church. United States’ Dustin Jimenez and France’s Boxam silver medallist Mohamed Ounai both were unstoppable in this 65kg today.
Wales’ U19 World Champion Dan Pitt eliminated Germany’s Jason Zeller in the opening bout of the tough men’s 80kg weight class. Sweden’s Divine Ejesum was too strong for Switzerland’s Diego Mazzarelli while Italy’s Christian Sarsilli had a tight success over Scotland’s Alan Perrie in this division.