Burton defeats Paris 2024 Olympic medallist to secure European Championship medal alongside Reid and Thomas
ENGLAND’s Abdul Burton put in a world-class performance to defeat an Olympic medallist and reach the semi-finals of the European Championships in Bulgaria, securing a medal in the process.
The bantamweight defeated the host nation’s Javier Ibanez Diaz, who won bronze at Paris 2024, to earn his third victory of the week. He was joined in victory by Chantelle Reid (W70kg) and Damar Thomas (M90+kg), who have also guaranteed themselves medals in Sofia.
There was disappointment, however, as both Ruby White (W51kg) and Isaac Okoh (M90kg) exited the competition after finding themselves on the wrong side of narrow split decisions.
White faced Turkey’s Olympic silver medallist Hatice Akbas in a contest where the 19-year-old can consider herself unfortunate not to get the decision, while Okoh lost to Germany’s Kevin Lebowski in a tight bout that was completely level on the scorecards heading into the third round.
Paris Olympian Chantelle Reid earned the team’s first win of the day with a dominant display against Ireland’s Evelyn Igharo.
Reid did not let a small cut sustained in the first round deter her from securing her second win of the week and, with it, a place in the light-middleweight semi-finals against Serbia’s Milena Matovic in tomorrow’s action.
Reid said: “It’s my first European Championships as a senior, so medalling here means the world to me.
“I’ve beaten her recently at Strandja, but you can never underestimate an opponent, so I stayed switched on, listened to my corner and got the job done.
“I’m just trying to get as many bouts in as I can before LA. I’m grateful for every competition GB Boxing sends me to and hopefully we can push on now for the gold.”
At bantamweight, Abdul Burton put in a performance of the highest quality to defeat the host nation’s Olympic bronze medallist and two-time European medallist Javier Ibanez Diaz via a 3-2 split decision.
Burton, boxing for the third time this week, won the opening round convincingly before a point deduction for holding in the second brought the contest close to level.
The Englishman then applied consistent pressure throughout the final round to clinch the bout in his favour. He will now face Turkey’s Semih Gumus for a place in the final on Thursday.
Burton said: “I had to dig in there, but it showed what I am all about.
“You can have all the boxing skills in the world, all the talent, but sometimes it comes down to what’s inside. That’s where you are tested the most.
“He had the age, experience and accolades over me, but I’m all about testing yourself against the best. He might not have been in deep water like that before and my heart has helped me get over the line.
“Time to change the colour now. The job’s not done yet, but it’s nice to have a medal secured.”
Damar Thomas was the third and final boxer to secure victory on day six as he comfortably defeated Georgia’s Nikoloz Begadze by unanimous decision to tee up a clash with Azerbaijan’s Mahammed Abdullayev.
Joining Chantelle and Damar in tomorrow’s action are four members of the GB Boxing squad, who will compete in the quarter-finals.
Up first is Lauren Mackie, who will take on Czechia’s Lenka Bernardova in a bantamweight contest at 12:00 UK time.
She will be followed by lightweight Amy Broadhurst, who will be hoping to add another European medal to her CV when she faces France’s Sthelyne Grosy at 12:30.
At light-heavyweight, Dimeji Shittu will challenge Austria’s Lucky Aimufua at 14:00.
In the evening session, Callum Makin goes up against Armenia’s Marat Mikaelyan in a middleweight bout at 18:30.