Kraus, Holley-Sotomi, Suhonen and Saurama won the male awards in Helsinki

Netherlands’ Gradus Kraus, Wales’ Orlando Holley-Sotomi and two local boxers such as Johannes Suhonen and Akseli Saurama won the male awards at the 42^nd Gee Bee Tournament in Helsinki.

Finland’s first title was achieved by Nikolas Bailey who defeated Estonia’s Leon Kermas in the final of the men’s cruiserweight (86kg). Wales’ 18-year-old Axel Hegarty won another non-Olympic category, the lightweight (60kg) against Finland’s Juho Taipale while his teammate, Orlando Holley-Sotomi also succeeded.

England’s Cameron McKay eliminated his main rival, Chinese Taipei’s Olympian Lai Chu En in the semi-final and he had another tough but successful challenge against Denmark’s Abdalla Abou Arab at the light welterweight (63.5kg) final.

Finland’s Johannes Suhonen and Czech Republic’s Tomas Otta both had good youth results and the teenagers advanced to the final of the welterweight (67kg). Suhonen was never stopped moving and his smart boxing with counter-punches decided their tight contest.

Germany’s Deniel Krotter was confident in his semi-final but following the tactical first round, he received high number of punches from Finland’s Akseli Saurama in the second and surprisingly the local boy won the light middleweight (71kg) final.

Netherlands’ Gradus Kraus felt the distance well from the first seconds against Germany’s Ben Ehis who returned to the international stage. The Dutch boxer dictated a fantastic tempo in the first and second rounds therefore Kraus won their meeting.

Two European medallists as Sweden’s teenager Elwin Belezika and Germany’s Alexander Okafor faced for the title of the men’s heavyweight (92kg) which was a hectic final. The Swedish southpaw controlled the first and third rounds against the German who returned to the events after five months of break.

Czech Republic’s Martin Pinc competed in the last European Boxing Championships and he was too experienced for Finland’s Petri Pyykonen in the super heavyweight (+92kg) final which finished in the first round.