The 2015 boxing calendar in the global amateur arena draws to a close in style this weekend with a taste of what is to come next year with the Rio 2016 Olympic Boxing Test Event in Barra da Tijuca. Top boxers from the men’s and women’s competition will get the chance to sample Rio’s unique atmosphere and give local boxing fans their own glimpse of what to expect inside the ring come August.
The draw was made on 3 December, with 16 female boxers taking part in the women’s Olympic flyweight, lightweight and middleweight classes, and 53 men competing across all ten of the male Olympic classes, from light flyweight to super heavyweight.
Among the big names on show is India’s five-time AIBA Women’s World Champion Chungneijang Mary Kom. The living legend returns from injury to face Venezuela’s AMBC American Women’s Champion Karlha Magliocco in her opening bout, while France’s AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships bronze medallist Estelle Mossely will take on Mexico’s AMBC American Women’s Champion Victoria Torres in the pick of the lightweight action.
Morocco’s defending AIBA World Champion and WSB favourite Mohammed Rabii will be among the star attractions of the men’s competition, along with Uzbekistan’s own unbeaten WSB hero Hasanboy Dusmatov, who faces Venezuela’s Angelino Cordova in the first round of the light flyweight class.
Great Britain’s former AIBA Junior World Champion Luke McCormack might be one the most promising lightweight boxers in the world at the moment, but he will have a stern opening test in the form of Carlos Balderas, the sole American boxer to have already qualified for Rio 2016.
Also qualified is Thailand’s AIBA World Boxing Championship bronze medallist Wuttichai Masuk. The light welterweight will be able to get a precious first-hand preview of next year’s big event when he takes to the ring in the RioCentro venue against Swaziland’s Thabiso Dlamini.
