Chemistry Cup

The chemistry cup is an international boxing tournament (highest AIBA category) in Olympic boxing, which has been held annually in Halle (Saale) since 1970 and is organized by the German Boxing Association (DBV). From 2016 the event will return to its "roots" in Halle-Neustadt and will be held in the Erdgas Sportarena.

history

In order to be able to better prepare the amateur boxers for the mode of major events such as the Olympic Games , World and European Championships, international tournaments were increasingly adopted in the 1960s. Boxing in national leagues or individual country comparisons did not meet the requirements of the tournament rhythm. This trend was recognized in 1969 by the functionaries of the boxing department of the SC Chemie Halle and quickly found support with the proposal to host an international amateur tournament in Halle, as efforts were made in the GDR to help the state gain international reputation through sporting achievements. On August 5th, 1970, the first international boxing tournament for the Halle Chemistry Cup was held with 82 boxers from ten nations in the ice rink .

The name chemistry cup is derived from the region around Halle, which at that time was massively determined by the chemical industry, and its roots in the SC Chemie Halle association.

After the reunification , the future of the tournament was called into question, as it was no longer supported by the state and therefore needed financial support from sponsors , which was difficult in the beginning. In 1991 the tournament was canceled for the first time due to the Gulf War . In 2010, the calculated budget of 100,000 euros could not be raised, so that the competition could not take place for the second time in its history.

Cup winner 1983

Cup winner 1984

Cup winner 1985

Cup winner 1986

Cup winner 1987

Cup winner 1989

New start in 2011

At the end of 2010, the German Boxing Association (DBV) and the State Amateur Boxing Association (LABV) were looking for a new host for the chemistry cup, and a new host for the traditional tournament was found in KSC Halle 08 eV. DBV sports director Michael Müller praised the commitment of the KSC Halle, which wants to give the internationally renowned traditional tournament its historically anchored significance back with a lot of commitment and new impulses. DBV and KSC chairman Rene Müller weren't worried about the level of the fights: “We had to reduce the number of participants because we didn't have the time for more fights,” said DBV sports director Michael Müller, “... that means but also that the participating countries only send their best boxers into the tournament. We expect fights at the very highest level. ”After more than 40 years of history, there was also a novelty in 2001. For the first time, women got into the ring at the chemistry cup. Germany also provided two national teams. DBV sports director Müller saw the German boxers well prepared: "For our boxers it's about participating in the World Championships in Baku."

Participating countries 2011

• Australia
• People's Republic of China
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Israel
• Lithuania
• Poland
• Russia
• Turkey
• Uzbekistan

In addition, the boxing associations from the Netherlands and Romania were supposed to take part in the Chemistry Cup 2011, but these were suspended by the world boxing association AIBA and are therefore not allowed to take part in the tournament.

Attendees

Since the athletes of socialist countries were not allowed to practice their sport professionally, one could always see the best boxers from the most successful nations of amateur boxing compete in the chemistry cup. This includes, above all, many Olympic and world champions from Cuba and the Soviet Union . Even after the collapse of socialism in Europe, the field of participants is still mainly determined by the athletes from the former Eastern Bloc countries .

Well-known tournament winners in the chemistry cup

image	Surname	Winner in weight class	Victory year (s)	nation
Sept 2008	Enchbatyn Badar-Uugan	Bantam	2006	Mongolia
	Georgi Ruslanowitsch Balakschin	To fly	2006	Russia
March 2009	Markus Beyer	Semi-middle	1995	Germany
April 2010	Lucian Bute	Semi-difficult	2003	Romania
	Willy Blain	Light	1996	France
March 1986: Breitbarth wins against Iwan Filtschew	René Breitbarth	Bantam	1986, 1987, 1988	German Democratic Republic
Cammarelle (right) with Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano (Sept. 2008)	Roberto Cammarelle	Super heavy	2008, 2009	Italy
	Joel Casamayor	Spring bantam	1992 1996	Cuba
	Jack Culcay-Keth	Welter	2008, 2009	Germany
March 2009	Zsolt Erdei	medium	1998	Hungary
Ángel Espinosa (right) against Henry Maske in 1988	Ángel Espinosa	Light Middleweight means	1986 1987, 1988	Cuba
	Artur Grigorian	Light	1994	Uzbekistan
	Eduard Gutknecht	medium	2005	Germany
Harrison as WBF Master March 2004	Audley Harrison	Super heavy	2000	United Kingdom
	Ariel Hernández	medium	1996	Cuba
	Richard Bango	Super heavy	1992	Nigeria
On March 9, 1986, Kaden defeated Teófilo Stevenson ( Cuba ) in the final of the 15th Chemistry Cup in Halle	Ulli Kaden	Super heavy	1982, 1986, 1989	Germany
	Mario Kindelán	Light	2004	Cuba
January 2009	Vitali Klitschko	Super heavy	1995	Ukraine
	Sebastian Köber	Heavy	2001	Germany
	Stefan Köber	Heavy	2009	Germany
	Matwei Georgievich Korobov	medium	2006	Russia
August 2009	Steven Küchler	Slightly half-world Welter	1996 1995, 1997, 1998 1999, 2000, 2001	Germany
	Luan Krasniqi	Heavy	1995	Kosovo
	Yevgeny Mikhailovich Makarenko	medium	1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989	Russia
February 2008	Henry mask	medium	1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989	Germany
	Torsten May	Semi-difficult	1993	Germany
12.3.1982 Hall: XI. International chemistry cup boxing tournament - 19-year-old GDR runner-up Siegfried Mehnert (right) delivered in the lightweight semi-finals on March 11th. the 25-year-old Cuban national champion, ex-world champion and Olympic champion from Moscow, Angel Herrera (left), a gripping fight and surprisingly won on points (4: 1).	Siegfried Mehnert	Light	1982	Germany
December 2007	Dariusz Michalczewski	Semi-difficult	1994	Poland ,  Germany
	René Monse	Heavy	1994	Germany
Ottke (back center, next to Henry Maske ) in 1989 at the 20th TSC tournament in Berlin	Sven Ottke	Semi-difficult	1994	Germany
March 2011	Alexander Powernow	Heavy	2005, 2006, 2007	Germany
	Kubrat Pulew	Super heavy	2006, 2007	Bulgaria
	Rustam Rahimov	Bantam	2007, 2008	Germany
	Guillermo Rigondeaux	Bantam	2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005	Cuba
Rudolph 1989 in Halle, 18th chemistry cup, (bottom, 4th from left)	Marco Rudolph	Feather light	1989 1992, 1992, 1995	Germany
	Alexis Rubalcaba	Super heavy	1996, 1998	Cuba
	Clemente Russo	Heavy	2008	Italy
	Serik Säpiev	Half welter, welterweight	2007, 2012	Kazakhstan
Savon (right) fights against Michael Ernsz in Halle / Saale in 1987	Félix Savón	Heavy	1985, 1986, 1987, 1996	Cuba
	Bert Schenk	medium	1992, 1994, 1995	Germany
	Vasily Shirov	Semi-difficult	1995, 1996	Kazakhstan
Schmitz (right) versus Michael Gusnick, 1989.	Torsten Schmitz	Welter semi-medium medium	1984 1988, 1989 1990	Germany
Schulz on August 11, 2007 at the Schlecker Cup in Ehingen	Axel Schulz	Heavy	1989	Germany
	Norman Schuster	Slightly half-world	1999, 2000 2002	?
	Vladimir Sidorenko	To fly	1998	Ukraine
	Odlanier Solís	Heavy	2002, 2003, 2004	Cuba
October 1985	Teófilo Stevenson	Heavy super heavy	1972, 1979 1984	Cuba
April 2005	Vitali Tajbert	feather	2002, 2003	Germany
	Bert Teuchert	Heavy	1990, 1992, 1993	?
Tews (bottom, 2nd from right) 1987	Andreas Tews	To fly	1987	Germany
March 2008	Michael Timm	Semi-middle	1984, 1985	Germany
	Oktay Urkal	Half-worlds	1993, 1994	Germany
	Mario Veit	Semi-middle	1994	Germany
	Lukas Wilaschek	medium	2004	Germany
Cloud (right) with Henry Maske, 1983	Manfred Cloud	Welter	1970	Germany
Andreas Zülow (left) wins the King's Cup in Bangkok on April 16, 1989 by beating the Kenyan Patrick Waweru in the final	Andreas Zulow	Bantam light half-world	1981, 1984 1988, 1989 1990	Germany
	Zoltan Lunka	To fly	1993, 1994, 1995	Germany

Web links

Commons : Chemistry Cup  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the AIBA
• Official website of the Chemistry Cup
• Website of the tournament organizer with further information on the chemistry cup ( Memento from September 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive )