Sergey Kudrayvtsev, who originally inspired me to take up boxing when I saw his picture in the newspaper when he won the Junior Olympic Soviet Union Championship. He now lives and works in Kaliningrad City, Russia. He brought Russian boxers to this tournament.

Nurjan, who I trained with in our boxing gym "Dinamo" in Taraz City, didn't recognize me until the second day I was there. It wasn't until I was introduced in the ring during the competition did he remember who I was. ...

In the finals, our American fighter Ronnie Vargas, faced Nurjan's student, V. Savchenko, and lost by points...

I was reunited with many of my old friends - coaches, boxers,  even some wrestlers who I had worked and trained with in Kazakhstan 25 years ago!

Thanks to boxing and the coaches who made us love this sport!

Thank you for reading my story!