Fighters from around Europe, Africa and the Arab world will descend on Dubai on October 19 for the ‘Clash of the Champions’ Arab Boxing Championships.

Amateur boxers from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, the UAE and India, as well as professionals representing Sudan, Algeria, Mauritania, Egypt and Libya along with champions from Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium will make up the bill in what organisers hope will be start of a new era in Arab boxing.

With the Dubai Police force being one of the main organisers of the championships, the event will carry the slogan “No Drugs…Yes for Sports”.

The boxing night, to be held on this Friday at Al Wasl Club, has the social message in keeping with the Dubai Police campaign of eradicating use of drugs at all levels in the society.

The main organiser of the ‘Clash of the Champions’ Arab Boxing Championship, FIBA, have lauded the role played by fighters from the region, in developing the sport.

“It is not every day that we have professionals boxers from countries such as Sudan and Libya who are known to be fighters of ability in the world of boxing,” said Hadi Al Sidheri, President of the FIBA.

“But two of the fighters, namely Ladjal Yannis of Libya and Makan Kabouti of Sudan, who are scheduled to participate in the ‘Clash of the Champions’ have shown their capacity to taking this sport to the next level in the region.

“These two are the only professional fighters in their countries and can go a long way in helping promote Arab boxing in the UAE and the Gulf and Middle East region,” Sidheri said.

Yannis will be the challenger against Austria’s Douge David in the 71kg middleweight class, while Kabouti will be up against world champion Farid Idir of Belgium in the 100kg heavyweight division. Yannis comes to Dubai with an impressive record of 35 wins, all of them knock-outs, from the 39 times he has fought so far. He has two draws and a couple of losses in his career so far.

Kabouti, too, is an accomplished fighter with 26 wins from his 29 fights that includes two draws and just one loss.

There will be a few more boxers from the Arab nations involved in the amateur matches that have been lined up earlier during the night, including fighters from Sudan, Morocco, Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

And over a period of time the organisers have altered the night’s programme a little to accommodate a special fight card for Arab boxers in the youth category.

“Our ultimate aim is to ensure that this brand of boxing gets more and more popular, not just in this country but in the entire Gulf and Arab regions,” Sidheri said.

The ‘Clash of the Champions’ Arab Boxing Championship will consist of four amateur fights and four bouts in the youth divisions and conclude with the highlight of the night with the five fights in the professional divisions.

The fight night is jointly organised by Alphadomino Communications, Dubai Police and Dubai Sports Council under the auspices of world governing body of Arab Boxing, FIBA.

What: The Clash of the Champions Arab Boxing Championships, featuring some of the best boxers from around the Arab world and Europe.

When: October 19

Where: Al Wasl Sports Club

Contact: +971 4 324 4446

 

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