“I am extremely happy to become the first Hungarian boxer to win this award. It is good to know that many people are following my career, and I think this is the result of my hard work in training and in the ring”, said Kontrecz.
After an AIBA panel created a shortlist of three boxers who had shined in July, a vote was put to AIBA’s social media followers to pick the Boxer of the Month. Despite wonderful performances from Marlen Esparza (USA) in the Pan American Games and Birzhan Zhakypov (KAZ) in AIBA Pro Boxing, Kontrecz was the overwhelming fans favourite in the vote.
Mark Kontrecz began boxing in Kiskunfelegyhaza at the age of 11 in 2009, and first joined Hungary’s national squad four years later.
He then competed at the 2013 AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships in Kiev, Ukraine where he defeated Kazakhstan's ASBC Asian Junior Continental Champion Vladislav Stolbovskiy, before losing to Brazil's Cassio Santos Oliveira.
Two months later, Kontrecz achieved an excellent bronze medallist at the EUBC European Confederation Junior Continental Championships in Anapa, Russia.
In 2014, he took part in the Heydar Aliyev Junior Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, and advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2014 EUBC European Confederation Junior Continental Championships.
As a junior athlete, Kontrecz twice won the Hungarian Junior National Championships and the Hungarian Junior National Olympiad.