Athlete of October – Bektemir Melikuziev

Athlete of October – Bektemir Melikuziev
Uzbekistan regained its great place among the top nations of the globe after the Doha 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships where their team claimed six medals, three silvers and three bronzes.
Bektemir Melikuziev joined to the elite level only in January and following his excellent performance in the Doha 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships he was named as athlete of the October in Asia.
Bektemir Melikuziev was born on April 8 in 1996 and began his boxing career very early at the of 10 in the Ferghana region where Uzbekistan’s excellent sport academy of boxing located. He trains with coach Mr. Maruf Akhmedov in the strong Uzbek boxing school where all of the age groups are in the world class level. Two-time Asian Games winner Elshod Rasulov, two-time AIBA World Champion Abbos Atoev, APB finalist Hurshid Tojibaev, AIBA World Championships silver medallist Jasurbek Latipov and AIBA Youth World Champion Akmalbek Kosimov all came from their strong physical schools and boxing academies.
Melikuziev won the Uzbek Schoolboys National Boxing Championships in 2010 which was his first success in the national level. He continued the golden series in their Junior National Championships in 2011 and in 2012 as well. He was involved to their national squad in 2011 but finally he was not selected to take part in the AIBA Junior World Championships in that year which was held in Astana, Kazakhstan as he was a reserve of the team.
Melikuziev competed in several international junior competitions in 2012 and following his participation at the Konstantin Matviychuk Junior Memorial Tournament in Magnitogorsk, Russia he was able to advance to the final of the prestigious Heydar Aliyev Junior Cup where he lost to Russia’s Aleksey Lomonosov by accepted scores for the gold medal. He defeated five Kazak boxers in the Mengerey Khayrutdinov Youth Memorial Tournament in Almaty in December 2012 where he could won the Lightweight class (60 kg).
He claimed the gold medal in the Uzbek Youth National Championships in October 2013 which competition was the selection event for the ASBC Asian Youth Continental Championships. Melikuziev continued the winning way at the Abbas Agalarov Youth Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan where he defeated Ukraine’s rising star Oleksiy Tokarchuk as well.
He proved excellent quality of boxing in the ASBC Asian Youth Continental Championships in Bangkok this January where was too smart for Kazakhstan’s Ilya Ochkin in the semi-final and also beat Tajikistan’s AIBA Junior World Championships bronze medallist Shabbos Negmatulloyev in the gold medal bout.
The Uzbek teenager travelled to the AIBA Youth World Championships to Sofia as one of the top favourite of the category. Melikuziev defeated his main rival Ukraine’s Oleksiy Tokarchuk in the quarter-final of the AIBA Youth World Championships in Sofia which was the key moment of his participation in the qualification event. He defeated Dominican Republic’s Juan Ramon Solano in the semi-final and Croatia’s Luka Prtenjaca in the gold medal bout therefore following Akmalbek Kosimov’s triumph in Yerevan in 2012, Melikuziev secured a further gold at the Welterweight class (69 kg) for Uzbekistan.
He won the Uzbek Youth National Games in the city of Namangan in May where he competed at the Middleweight class (75 kg). His last preparation event before the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics was the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament in Serbia but following his opening victory he chosed the option not to fight in the semi-final to keep his energies and avoid the injuries prior the Nanjing event.
As expected Melikuziev advanced to the final of Youth Olympics in Nanjing where he had to meet with Dominican Republic’s AMBC American Youth Continental Champion Juan Ramon Solano once again following their first fight in Sofia. Uzbekistan’s flagbearer controlled the bout and shocked his opponent in the final round therefore his gold medal was one of the most comfortable one in Nanjing.
The 175cm tall boxer will be joined to the elite level in January 2015 and started with a gold medal in the Uzbek National Elite Boxing Championships in the city of Almalik where he was too strong for their WSB athlete Hurshidbek Normatov. The Middleweight class (75 kg) boxer won all of his four bouts in the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia therefore the staff of ASBC chosed him as athlete of February. He stopped Bulgaria’s young Nikolay Chavdarov, eliminated Turkey’s AIBA Youth World Championships bronze medallist Osman Aydin, triumphed over Ukraine’s Valeriy Kharlamov and finally he was too strong for Ireland’s EU Championships silver medallist Michael O’Reilly.
Melikuziev’s next great moment has come in the quarter-final of the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Bangkok where he defeated Kazakhstan’s reigning AIBA World Champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly. He had a clear semi-final triumph and had some energies to beat also India’s former Asian Games winner Vikas Krishan Yadav in the gold medal bout which delivered for him a title in Thailand.
Bektemir Melikuziev defeated two gold medal contenders in the Doha 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships, firstly Russia’s EUBC European Champion Petr Khamukov in the quarter-finals and following that he was also too smart for Ireland’s Baku 2015 European Games winner Michael O’Reilly who triumphed over Kazakhstan’s defending AIBA World Champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in a tactical contest. Melikuziev amazed the judges and the spectators with his virtuoso style and tried to keep his concentration in the final against Cuba’s Arlen Lopez who is the current WSB Champion. The 19-year-old Uzbek sensation was not enough shape in the opening round but he turned up the heat from the second and he was near to get his first AIBA World Boxing Championships’ title.