Interview with Kazakhstan’s boxing icon Mr. Yermakhan Ibraimov

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Mr. Yermakhan Ibraimov claimed gold medal in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and after his boxing career he has been supporting Kazakhstan’s youth and junior team. Kazakhstan’s boxing icon is following the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships in the venue in Bangkok, Thailand.
“I am ready to travel anywhere where AIBA or ASBC hold an important boxing event. I am very welcome and treated well enough everywhere I follow the boxing competitions after my Olympic title in Sydney.
It is the second time when Thailand Boxing Association hosts the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships. I would like to send a message through this interview to the Thailand Boxing Association for their perfect organization.
Many people are asking for me which are the differences between the 90’s and our present days. I saw many European, Kazakh and former Soviet youth and junior boxers in my career, I was Junior Champion in Rostov-na-Donu in Russia in 1988 and won a youth title in the USSR in Irkutsk in 1990. Personally I think the differences are not huge, the level is very high in our present days as well.
Kazakhstan’s youth team was the leader of the recent editions of the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships and I hope we can continue this road also in Bangkok with several gold medals.
The boys have been starting their boxing career at the age of 10 in Kazakhstan and began competing seriously from the age of 13. Most of them are in really good hands as there are more than 1500 coaches in Kazakhstan’s boxing life nowadays.
The Toltayev brothers, Samatali and Sanatali, furthermore Aibek Dossanov are my favourites in the current youth team. To be honest they have got realistic chance to reach also the top level and join to Kazakhstan’s elite squad in the upcoming years.
Kazakhstan claimed four gold medals at the welterweight (69kg) in the recent four editions of the Olympic Games and hopefully we will be able to continue this amazing success also in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. I hope we can get 5 medals in Tokyo which would be realistic from our team,” said Kazakhstan’s boxing icon Mr. Yermakhan Ibraimov in Bangkok.