The Acropolis Cup International Boxing Tournament was established in 1975 by the

Hellenic Boxing Federation Hellenic is a synonym for Greek. It means either: *of or pertaining to the Hellenic Republic (modern Greece) or Greek people (Hellenes, ) and culture *of or pertaining to ancient Greece, ancient Greek people, culture and civilization. It may also ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The international

amateur boxing Amateur boxing is the variant of boxing practiced in clubs and associations around the world, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as at the varsity sports, collegiate level. Amateur boxing bouts comprise three ...

competitions were held annually in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

from 1975 to 2004 and returned after an 18-year hiatus in 2022. It was billed as one of the toughest tournaments in Europe. Jason Lee gethin born 1977 Wales, boxing at featherweight aged 17 in 1996 winning bronze medal at Athens Acropolis Cup, Europe's toughest games.

Early history

The Acropolis Cup's early editions saw gold medals won by countries including Greece, Pakistan, Morocco, Belgium, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, and Canada.

1st Acropolis Cup

The first Acropolis Cup took place in 1975, with Greece, West Germany, and Austria winning gold medals.

6th Acropolis Cup

In 1980, the sixth Acropolis Cup featured a gold medal win in the light-welterweight category for Canadian boxer Ricky Anderson. Other gold medal winners included fighters from England, Greece, Japan, France, and Denmark.

9th Acropolis Cup

At the ninth Acropolis Cup in 1983, England finished as the most successful country out of the 11 participating, winning four gold, one silver, and one bronze.

20th Acropolis Cup

In the finals of the 20th annual Acropolis Cup in 1997, Mirko Crocop faced

Paolo Vidoz Paolo Vidoz (born 21 August 1970) is an Italian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2011 and held the European heavyweight title from 2005 to 2006. As an amateur Vidoz won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in the super-heavyw ...

and won a silver medal. Female boxers competed for the first time in the 1997 event.

25th Acropolis Cup

The Acropolis Cup became an Olympic qualifying tournament in 1999, and its 25th edition served as a test event for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. It was held in the

Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall The Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall is an list of indoor arenas, indoor arena that is located in Peristeri, west Athens. The hall was the site of the Boxing at the 2004 Summer Olympics, boxing events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. ...

. The 2004 winners included notable Cuban fighters Yuriolkis Gamboa,

Guillermo Rigondeaux Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz (; born 30 September 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. Who held the unified WBA (Super), WBO and '' Ring'' magazine super bantamweight titles between 2013 and 2017, and the WBA (Regular) bantamweight title fro ...

Mario Kindelan Mario (; ) is a character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Japanese video game company Nintendo. ...

, Odlanier Solis, as well as Italy's

Roberto Cammarelle Roberto Cammarelle (born 30 July 1980) is an Italian amateur boxer, best known for winning the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2007 (Chicago) and 2009 (Milan) as a super heavyweight and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing ...

and Greece's Helias Pavlidis. England's Amir Khan lost in the preliminary round to Mario Kindelan.

Gennady Golovkin Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin (; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time former u ...

fought in the middleweight class at the Olympic test event and lost in the semi-finals.

Andre Dirrell Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) is an American professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger brother Anthony Dirrell is also a professional boxer. Amateur career ...

won a gold medal at the 25th Acropolis Cup by defeating Cuba's Yordanis Despaigne in the final of the middleweight division.

26th Acropolis Cup

In 2022, the 26th annual International Acropolis Cup boxing tournament took place at the

Panathenaic Stadium The Panathenaic Stadium (, ) or ''Kallimarmaro'' ( , ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Athens, Greece. One of the main historic attractions of Athens, it is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble. A stadium was built on the site o ...

. Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Latvia, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Poland, Seychelles, Slovenia, and Ukraine were among the participating countries.

References

{{reflist Amateur boxing competitions Boxing in Greece Boxing competitions in Europe Recurring sporting events established in 1975