One of Europe’s most traditional boxing tournaments, the 69th István Bocskai István Memorial Tournament, will begin on 11 March in Debrecen, in the Oláh Gábor Street Sports Hall, with 200 boxers from 13 countries already confirmed to take part.
Almost the entire Hungarian elite will compete in the Oláh Gábor Street Sports Hall,” said the event’s press conference on Tuesday 4 March.
Three national fists will not compete, Olympic 5th Richárd Kovács, Levente Kiss and Dominik Énekes.
Debrecen will host 10 men’s and 10 women’s weight classes from Tuesday to Saturday (11-15 March 2025), with the pride of the locals, last year’s European silver medalist Attila Bernáth, also taking part, with the finals taking place on the national day, 15 March, from 18.00.
The daily program starts every day from Tuesday to Thursday at 14.00, on Friday at 13.00 and 16.00.
– Bocskai, which will be 70 years old next year, is in its golden age and the association is determined to keep it that way. It is planned that this tournament will be a real brand, which will maintain its traditionally strong position in the World Boxing competition system. We are not thinking in terms of medals, but in terms of quality, and Bocskai is an extremely important preparation stage before the main event of the year, the World Championships in Liverpool in September”, said István Kovács, President of the Hungarian Boxing Federation (MÖSZ), referring to the fact that on Saturday the MÖSZ became a full member of the new World Boxing Federation, World Boxing, which was previously recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
It is possible that the new captain of the Hungarian boxing federation will be decided during the competition. Of the more than ten candidates, three remain in the running.
Ticket sales for the Bocskai Memorial Tournament have already started. Pensioners and children under 14 can attend the competition free of charge again this year. The finals of the István Bocskai Memorial will be broadcast live on M4 Sport, but the rest of the competition can also be followed on the association’s YouTube channel.
At the end of the press conference, Lajos Barcsa, Deputy Mayor of Debrecen, and István Kovács signed the contract of the István Bocskai Memorial Competition, MTI reported.
– I urge the people of Debrecen to come as many as possible and show that the Oláh Gábor Street Sports Hall is not enough in terms of spectator space. We have also discussed with the Vice-President that a larger hall could be considered in the future,” said the Deputy Mayor.
Source. debrecen.hu
