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Dates, Venue and Background

Date and place - August 25 to September 2 in Hamburg, Germany

Venue - Sporthalle Hamburg

The 2017 AIBA World Championships will be held in Hamburg in the north of Germany, a city with a great boxing history that today pulsates with a unique mixture of maritime atmosphere, big-city style and rich culture. 

The Sporthalle Hamburg indoor arena has a capacity of 4,584 seats. It opened in 1968 and is located in the Winterhude area of the city.

The Hamburg 2017 AIBA World Championships are going to be one of the great sporting events of the summer. 

After a new qualification system via the five Continental Championships, only the very best boxers, including 18 Olympic medallists from Rio 2016, will compete for the boxing world’s most prestigious prize, giving fans lots of first-class action to enjoy over the nine days.

Germany’s second-largest city lies on the Elbe River, for centuries a major port and trading centre for central Europe, and today houses a thriving restaurant and shopping scene, cultural centres and technology hubs.

"The traditional boxing city of Hamburg will see the best 280 boxers in the world competing across nine days of boxing action," said AIBA President C K Wu.

"This is the DNA of the AIBA family, to develop and provide the best opportunities for our athletes. 

"Sports will always come first and Hamburg will be a great celebration of the noble art.

"We are delighted to partner with prestigious global brands like Borgward and Adidas in Hamburg 2017. 

"As I already said before, the World Championships are special for us and having these sponsors on board reaffirm our intention of escalate the level and the quality of our major competition.

"After the challenging qualification path with five Continental Championships, only the best boxers will be competing to crown the boxing world. 

"This means that the attraction of the sport side is ensured and fans will be able to enjoy the best boxing action in the World.

"But, at the same time, we will offer for the first time ever a completely new fan experience on site and on our AIBA digital channels. 

"The boxing fans in Hamburg will enjoy an extensive Fan Zone experience, including different spaces dedicated to the AIBA Year of Africa, a commentary challenge and all the different activities from our sponsors ensuring a kindly approach to our sport from all the fans."

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Boxers to watch

For the first time, the sole qualification routes for the World Championships were the five Continental Championships held between April and June this year.

Among the biggest names to make it through were Cuban duo Julio César La Cruz and Lázaro Álvarez, both of whom are looking to make it four consecutive titles.

Ireland’s Joe Ward will arrive fresh from winning a third-straight European title in Ukrainian city Kharkiv, while Rio 2016 finalists Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan and Yurberjen Martinez of Colombia will both be looking to re-kindle one of the great modern rivalries at light flyweight.

Rio 2016 Olympic champion Evgeny Tishchenko of Russia and exciting English prospect Cheavon Clarke will be among the favourites at heavyweight.

A tight middleweight competition is in store as the likes of India’s Krishan Vikas and Hungary’s Zoltán Harcsa chase their first world title.