A seven-hour broadcast on the RBF's VK page featured interviews with officials and boxers, musical performances and some highlights.

The virtual celebration was held in lieu of an event in Moscow's Red Square, which was not possible this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Launched in 2017, International Boxing Day is celebrated on July 22.

It has gained significant traction in Russia especially, with President Vladimir Putin among those to mark the occasion this year.

On the RBF broadcast, general secretary Umar Kremlev expressed a desire for Russia "to become the best battleground" for boxing in the world.

Kremlev hopes for the country's best professional boxers to fight in the country, among them Murat Gassiev, a former two-belt cruiserweight champion.

Numerous fighters including Artur Beterbiev, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) light-heavyweight world champion in 2009, and Dmitry Bivol contacted the show via social media.

Bivol also paid tribute to his friend Maxim Dadashev, who passed away on July 23 last year the - the day after International Boxing Day - from injuries sustained in a professional fight in the United States.

Russia hosted both the men's and women's editions of the AIBA World Boxing Championships last year and is slated to host another of amateur boxing's flagship events.

Nizhny Novgorod is due to stage the revamped Boxing World Cup, although Kremlev suggested it won't take place until April 2021 because of the global health crisis.

The original dates were in November 2020.

Like all sporting bodies, the RBF has seen its operations impacted by the pandemic, but responded by launching a scheme which saw boxers distribute masks and hand sanitiser, as well as establishing a support hotline.