Speaking to SKAI TV, Tsoukalas said he had sensed that the atmosphere was strange. “I was watching the crowd; there was a group of people who seemed a bit odd, more like football hooligans. They were relatively calm because they didn’t expect this outcome — they never imagined I would achieve this result.”

He added: “When I entered the ring with the flag as usual, I handed it straight to my coach and bowed to show respect, to make it clear that I respect you. I didn’t come here to provoke anyone or show off.”

Describing what happened after the knockout, he said: “As soon as the knockout happened in the third round, my coach came into the ring out of joy and hugged me. I was extremely happy at that moment — it was something I had been expecting, a life goal. But I immediately realized what was about to happen. I was prepared and had a sense of it, so I signaled to him to get me down, so as not to be more provocative, because I had seen what was going on.”

“It’s not visible on camera, but I saw 40–50 people coming down from the stands toward the ring. I couldn’t see what was happening behind me, only what was in front of me. First, the opponent’s brother came in — as I was later informed — and hit me on the head.

“After that, everything happened very fast. I didn’t know if there were 5, 20, or 40 people. At that moment, I just protected myself, tried to shield my head, and kept saying to myself, ‘Be patient until it’s over.’ Time was passing and I was thinking, ‘Come on, what’s going to happen?’ It all happened so quickly, I didn’t even realize it.”

“It was horrifying”

His brother, Manolis Tsoukalas, said the family was in shock. “We were terrified; we didn’t know what to do and couldn’t communicate with anyone. We waited for half an hour. Giannis called us briefly — a ten-second call — and told us, ‘Don’t worry, we’re fine, we’ll talk later.’ That was all. No other information, not whether he was injured, nothing. We had no idea.

“When you see your own person live on television in a boxing match and suddenly a mob storms the ring, people being trampled on the ground, chairs flying through the air — it’s tragic. It leaves a mark on you.”

The timeline of the violent attack

As seen in videos that surfaced, shortly after Tsoukalas’ knockout victory, dozens of people stormed the ring and attacked him and his team during the bout in Novi Pazar, Serbia.

The man seen in the footage punching the Greek athlete is reportedly the brother of his opponent, Vahid Kitsara.

Event organizers failed to restore order, claiming there was insufficient security personnel to handle such an incident. According to Serbian media, Giannis Tsoukalas was immediately transferred from Novi Pazar to a hospital in Belgrade for precautionary examinations. After undergoing the necessary tests, he was discharged and returned to Greece.