Two Pro Jewish Boxers Competing at European Amateurs

David Alaverdian and Miroslav Kapuler are professional boxers representing Israel at the 2022 European amateur championships, which begin today in Yerevan, Armenia. Professionals have been allowed to take part in major amateur competitions for the past few years. This event is particularly meaningful to Alaverdian whose father is Armenian.

David is seeded fourth in the flyweight tournament. The U.S.-based Israeli is 6-0 with 5 KOs as a pro. The 28 year old's style is more suited for the pro game because of his power and his body attack. Alaverdian faces Akritidis Panagiotis of Greece on May 25 in the afternoon session. The man from Greece does not seem to have much experience at big tournaments. In a previous meet, he fought at bantamweight and his first and last names were reversed as they are on BoxRec.

Lurking on David's side of the bracket is the favorite, Artur Hovhannisyan, who owns the number one seed. Hovhannisyan, who is from Armenia, competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics and won gold at the 2019 European championships, but the 26 year old earned these accolades at light flyweight.

Miroslav, 25 years old, has alternately fought with the surnames Kapuler and Ishchenko. For this competition, he's listed as "Miroslav Kapuler Ishckenko." He is 3-0 as a pro, but his style is more suited for the amateur ranks than Alaverdian's. A slick, intelligent boxer, Kapuler is willing to simply touch his opponent to score points. Though he still has more of an amateur style, he has thus far been very impressive during his young pro career.

Kapuler is the fifth seed and earned a bye in first round of the junior middleweight tournament. On May 26 during the evening session he's scheduled to face the winner of the fight between Scotland's Stephen Newns and Italy's Salvatore Cavallaro. In this division, Yurii Zakharieiev from Ukraine is the favorite. The 19 year old won gold at the 2021 World Championships and holds the number one seed.

The International Boxing Association (IBA, formerly AIBA) was suspended from running the boxing tournament at last year's Tokyo Olympics due to repeated acts of corruption. These European championships fall under the umbrella of the IBA, however.