The first edition of the World Boxing Cup will have its final in Greater Noida with India's top amateur boxers in action against some of the world's best. The tournament, known as World Boxing Cup Finals 2025, will take place from November 16 to 20 at the Shaheed Vijay Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida and boxers will compete across 10 weight categories each in the men's and women's sections.
Here's all you need to know about the tournament:
What's the World Boxing Cup?
The World Boxing Cup is an annual series of competitions started this year by the sport's governing body World Boxing to give a structure to Olympic-style boxing and also ranking points to elite men and women boxers.
The first World Boxing Cup took place in Brazil from March 31 to April 5 while the second event happened in Astana, Kazakhstan from June 30 to July 7. The third event in the series is the finals which is now taking place in India and will include only the top eight boxers (including winners of previous stages) in all the weight categories.
Is this the most important tournament of the year?
The World Boxing Cup Finals have 300 ranking points for the gold medal, however, this year's big tournament -- the World Championships -- happened in Liverpool, England, a couple of months ago.
This is the main reason why some of the big names won't come to India for this World Boxing Cup Finals. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, who were the two most dominant countries at the Worlds, are sending their second string teams while China are completely skipping the tournament.
In terms of ranking points, the Olympic Games are obviously paramount, with the gold medal winner earning 2000 ranking points. The World Championship is second in that order with 1500 ranking points for the gold medallist. The third in that order are continental multi-sport events and continental championships where 800 points are awarded to the top medal winner. The next best is the World Boxing Cup Finals followed by the other World Boxing Cup stages.
Schedule
Nov. 16, Sunday - Quarterfinals
Nov. 17, Monday - Quarterfinals Nov. 18, Tuesday - Quarterfinals and semifinals
Nov.19, Wednesday - Semifinals
Nov. 20, Thursday -Finals and Medal ceremonies
The bouts will start at 2 PM IST.
What's India's squad?
India have named a full squad for all the weight categories in the tournament.
Men: Jadumani Singh (50kg), Pawan Bartwal (55kg), Sachin (60kg), Abhinash Jamwal (65kg), Hitesh (70kg), Sumit (75kg), Ankush Phangal (80kg), Jugnoo (85kg), Naveen Kumar (90kg), Narender (90+kg).
Women: Minakshi Hooda (48kg), Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg) Jaismine Lamboria (57kg), Parveen (60kg), Neeraj Phogat (65kg), Arundhati Choudhary (70kg), Saweety Boora (75kg), Pooja Rani (80kg), Nupur Sheoran (80+kg).
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain has decided to skip the tournament due to a nose injury and has been replaced by Saweety Boora.
Meanwhile, former World Championship bronze medallist Parveen Hooda is back in the squad after serving a WADA-imposed suspension for three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period in May last year. She was handed a 22-month ban which was later backdated 14 months.
Who are the Indian boxers to watch out for?
India have selected a strong squad which includes four medallists from the World Championships.
Minakshi Hooda (48kg) and Jaismine Lamboria (57kg) are the two big medal hopefuls from India as they are also the world champions in their respective categories. Nupur Sheoran (+80kg), who won the silver medal at the Worlds, is also part of the squad along with Pooja Rani (80kg) who clinched Worlds bronze.
Apart from the above, there's also two-time World Champion Nikhat Zareen who's keen to make an impact at home. At the World Championships, Nikhat made it to the quarterfinals but couldn't make it to the semifinals which would've confirmed another medal for her.
Among the men, the likes of Hitesh and Abhinash who won medals at the in the earlier stages of World Boxing Cup. At the World Championships though, the Indian men's squad had a disappointing outing where they failed to fetch a single medal. They will hope for a more successful outing this time at home.
Who are the other boxers to watch out for?
Other medallists from the recent World Boxing Championships who will be competing in this tournament include Japan's Sewonrets Okazawa who won the silver medal in the men's 70kg. Chinese Taipei's Huang Hsiao-Wen, who won the gold in the women's 54kg category will also be there. Poland's women's 80kg+ World Champion Agata Kaczmarska will look to add more glory to her name.
Olympic medallist like Munarbek Seiitbek Uulu (men's 60kg) of Kyrgyzstan, Wu Shih-Yi (women's 57kg) of Chinese Taipei, Aeji Im (women's 54kg) of South Korea are also some of the big players who can make an impact in the tournament.
All the matches from the tournament will be shown LIVE on World Boxing YouTube channel.