Aiba World Boxing Championships End of adventure for all three Seychellois boxers |30 October 2021

End of adventure for all three Seychellois boxers at the ongoing International Boxing Association World Boxing Championships 2021.

Fabio Roselie was the first Seychellois in action on Wednesday at the Stark Arena in Belgrade, Serbia and he lost on points ‒ 0-5 ‒ to Jasin Ljama of Moldova in lightweight (60kg) category.

On Thursday, both Keddy Agnes (super heavyweight, +92kg) and Shain Boniface (welterweight, 67kg) who had benefited from byes, climbed into the ring and recorded defeats in contrasting styles.

Fighting in the welterweight class, Boniface lost 0-5 to Cuban Kevin Hayler Bazain Brown (67-22). In the preliminary round on Monday night, Cuban Bazain did not have to break a sweat for a win after his opponent, Jamaican Joshua Frazer (29-10), did not appear for the fight.

As for Keddy Agnes, he was knocked out by Bulgarian heavyweight champion Rumenov Petar Belberov with 2 minutes 26 seconds (2:22) left in the second round.

The three boxers are accompanied by coach Gerry Legras and the delegation’s trip is being financed by the National Sports Council, Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association and the International Boxing Association (Aiba).

The World Boxing Championships is the main event on Aiba calendar for the year 2021 and the finals are to take place on November 5 and 6.

The championships feature 13 categories for the first time in Aiba's history after the weight classes were increased from 10 to 13 from August 2021. The minimum weight has been reduced to 48kg from 49kg.

The 13 weight categories for men are: minimum weight (46kg to 48kg), flyweight (51kg), bantamweight (54kg), featherweight (57kg), lightweight (60kg), light welterweight (63.5kg), welterweight (67kg), light middleweight (71kg), middleweight (75kg), light heavyweight (80kg), cruiserweight (86kg), heavyweight (92kg), super heavyweight (+92kg).