Right now I don’t want to know anything about boxing. I don’t know if I want to continue boxing or what I’m going to do. “I’m on a plan that I don’t want to see a boxing room, gloves, boots, or anything.” With this crudeness he responds … Rioja boxer of Russian origin Gazi Jalidov, who is enjoying a few days in Logroño after traumatically missing the last train to the Paris Olympic Games in Bangkok, after losing a fight due to a controversial decision by the judges.
«It is no longer that there are decisions by judges that have to do with politics, there are also favors between referees, favors between countries. Or powerful people who come with money and… In Bangkok, a local boxer, a Thai, won an Olympic spot, and I had him as a sparring partner on his day and I took him away in two rounds. Gazi verbalizes somewhere between disappointed and angry after “losing four years” of his life.
After being present at Tokyo 2020 (he lost in the quarterfinals to Khataev), Gazi Jalidov has seen how in this last year the three options to obtain an Olympic ticket have eluded him. The first option disappeared in Poland (Krakow), in the European Games. «There I won a fight with the Pole, with the local. The next one, I got an Italian and in the end it was more of the same. I get to the corner and they tell me that I’m down 5 points because of my face,” Jalidov reviews.
The second attempt was in Italy (Busto Ardizio). It didn’t go well either. «Psychologically I didn’t do very well due to problems I had. It is true that I received a hand that surprised me. It may be the fairest result,” confesses the boxer.
The third and final bullet was spent last week, in Bangkok. And it ended prematurely and with controversy. Gazi arrived with the intention of taking one of the places for Paris and started well: victory in the first fight against an Algerian who was disqualified for not wanting to fight and in the second against an Estonian Stiven Aasque who left him as a memory of a headbutt on the eyebrow .
In the third round, the competition team paired him with the powerful Irishman Kelyn Cassidy. «I went out there and did what I had to do, I did my boxing and I carried it out from the first to the last round. I was very good, I timed it very well and we won,” Jadilov remembers.
Gazi was two fights away from achieving the position. But his positive momentum was abruptly cut in the next fight, against the Dominican Cristian Javier Piñales. The boxer from Rioja has a hard time remembering the fight: «For me, I won the first round well but they gave my rival a 3-2. The second round they beat me 3-2, when it was the worst round I did. «In the last round I didn’t even let him breathe – he continues –, I took the initiative, the blows landed, that was all. They catch me and give me a 5-0 down. A 5-0! And go home.”
Asked about the advice of his mentor, Barru, Gazi answers: «He told me that I have to rest, disconnect physically and mentally. And then, make the decision you want.
After several minutes of chatting, the most reflective Jalidov appears: «Boxing has also given me a lot and I am grateful for that. I know that the years I have been there have not been in vain either. “I have always given my best and left my mark on Spanish boxing.” However, he does not hide his disappointment: “I know what I’m worth, I know I’m a world top and I know I can fight anyone, but I’m very disappointed with everything that surrounds boxing.”
#Argentina
