Italy got off to a great start at the Boxing Grand Prix, the tournament organized by Riyadh Season and the WBC. Competing in the featherweight division, our representative Muhamet Qamili secured a unanimous decision win over Ukrainian Ihor Semonchuk thanks to a brilliant performance, earning a spot in the round of 16, which will take place in June.
The pressure of the big stage was evident in the legs and arms of the 24-year-old, who has Albanian roots and has lived in Italy since he was five: Qamili started the match rather tense and had to take some early clean shots from his relentless opponent.
However, the fighter coached by Alessandro El Moety didn’t let the rough start affect him. By the end of the first round, fought at a blistering pace by both boxers, he had already begun to find the right answers.
From the second round onward, Qamili visibly shook off his nerves and started moving more freely, making good use of the ring space and counter-punching with natural flow and precision.
As the fight went on, the contrast between Semonchuk’s sheer aggression and Qamili’s higher quality became more and more evident. The Ukrainian never stopped pressing forward, but the Italian defended in an orderly manner and landed sharp, unexpected counters with both hands.
Fortunately, the judges appreciated Qamili’s technical superiority. After four rounds, the Open Scoring system revealed that he was ahead on two of the three official scorecards. A touch of fatigue started to show, and both boxers found themselves clinching more often, but Qamili kept landing the cleaner punches.
At the start of the sixth and final round, Qamili seemed ready to manage his lead, but soon shifted gears and dominated the second half of the round, putting the final stamp on an excellent performance.
The judges unanimously awarded the victory to the Italian with scores of 58–57, 58–56, and 59–55. The writer agrees with the four-point margin judged by Belgian official Daniel Van de Wiele, having given Semonchuk only the first round—but what matters is that the more deserving boxer advanced.
In the round of 16, Qamili will face France’s Yoni Valverde Jr., who clearly defeated Chinese-Australian Runqi Zhou today, winning all six rounds on the official scorecards.
Valverde is a mobile, well-timed boxer who switches stance often and works the body well. His power (just three KOs in fourteen professional wins) and his defense, which mostly relies on a static high guard, are less impressive.
On paper, the challenge seems within Qamili’s reach—provided he shows up in top condition as he did today and doesn’t underestimate the task at hand. For now, however, the talented 24-year-old can celebrate today’s excellent result. There will be time to prepare for the next challenge.