Staletovic, Salah, Djinovic and Pleas won key quarter-finals in Budva

Serbia’s Ljubisa Staletovic, Germany’s Ibrahim Salah, Montenegro’s Tomislav Djinovic and Greece’s Georgios Pleas won their quarter-finals at the Montenegro Elite Cup in Budva.

Montenegro is very busy hosting international events and their top one, the Elite Montenegro Cup turned into its final phase in the boxing city of Budva.

Serbia’s Ljubisa Staletovic eliminated Ukraine’s Vladyslav Kondratiuk which was one of the surprise victories in the session. The next Ukrainian at the 55kg, Maksym Rudyk performed much better and he defeated Moldova’s Maxim Cernelea unanimously.

Germany’s Ibrahim Salah was not able to qualify for the Paris Olympics but he decided to continue his career at least until Los Angeles 2028. The German boxer used his height advantage to beat Mexico’s Jose Manuel Gonzalez at the 55kg.

The next German boxer, Omid Ahmadisafa was a refugee in the recent years but he finally received his passport to compete for his new nation. The 34-year-old boxer was still fresh and speedy in the attacks to beat Serbia’s Nikola Maksimovic in the next 55kg bout.

One of the next generation members, Georgios Pleas represented Greece in all of the major schoolboy, junior and youth competitions in the recent years and he proved his technical skills against Ukraine’s Ali Dahly at the 60kg.

Alen Rustemovski is one of the best North Macedonian boxers who worked hard in all of the three rounds to beat Moldova’s Vladimir Melenchuk at the 60kg before Oleksandr Vasko eliminated Germany’s favourite, Denis Bril.

Montenegro’s European Championships bronze medallist Tomislav Djinovic was never stopped attacking in his quarter-final bout and his pressure against Azerbaijan’s Mahammadali Gasimzada, guaranteed his success in Budva.

Germany’s Kevin Lebowski made a strong impact in several international events in 2025 and his efforts paid off against Moldova’s Andrei Zaplitnii. Ukraine’s Yevhenii Pavlovskyi controlled all of the three rounds against Croatia’s Fran Plazina in the next 90kg bout.