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

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. The international

amateur boxing Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

competitions were held annually in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

from 1975 to 2004 and returned after an 18-year hiatus in 2022. It was billed as one of the toughest tournaments in Europe.

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 Ricky Anderson (born in Africville, Nova Scotia) is a Canadian-born former professional boxer. Anderson was due to represent Canada at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but the Canadian teams boycotted the event. He continued to become a top ...

. 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 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 ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. It was held in the

Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall The Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall is an indoor arena that is located in Peristeri, west Athens. The hall was the site of the boxing events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The venue originally seated 8,400, though it had a public c ...

. The 2004 winners included notable Cuban fighters

Yuriolkis Gamboa Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano (born 23 December 1981) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBA and IBF titles between 2009 and 2011, as well as the WBA interim championship in both t ...

Guillermo Rigondeaux Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz (; born 30 September 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the unified WBA (Super), WBO and ''Ring'' magazine super bantamweight titles between 2013 and ...

Mario Kindelan is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

, Odlanier Solis, as well as Italy's

Roberto Cammarelle Roberto Cammarelle (born 22 March 1980) is an Italian amateur boxing, amateur boxer, best known for winning the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, 2007 (Chicago) and 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championshi ...

and Greece's

Helias Pavlidis Elias Pavlidis (born May 4, 1978, in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk), sometimes written Helias or Ilias Pavlidis, is a Greek amateur boxer best known to compete at the Athens Olympics 2004. He was born in Russia. Career At the 2003 World Championship ...

. England's Amir Khan lost in the preliminary round to Mario Kindelan.

Gennady Golovkin Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin (Cyrillic: ; 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 ...

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 who held the IBF interim super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger bro ...

won a gold medal at the 25th Acropolis Cup by defeating Cuba's

Yordanis Despaigne Yordanis Despaigne Herrera (born February 12, 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer who, as an amateur boxer, has medaled repeatedly in international tournaments as a middleweight. Career In Belfast at the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championship ...

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. 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