The European Elite Boxing Championships concluded in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Friday after nine days of action at the Asics Arena Sports Hall, with over 350 bouts taking place. Boxers from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Ireland, Hungary, Russia, Serbia and Türkiye claimed the final 14 gold medals.
Six European champions were crowned on Thursday, leaving 14 titles to be decided in Friday’s closing session.
Türkiye’s Olympic silver medallist Hatice Akbas moved down to women’s 51kg for this competition and faced Spain’s World bronze medallist Laura Fuertes in the final. A dominant performance saw Akbas secure gold with a 5:0 unanimous decision.
Serbia’s Sara Cirkovic defeated Türkiye’s World Champion and Olympic silver medallist Buse Naz Cakiroglu and Russia’s Anastasiia Kool en-route to the women’s 54kg final against Finland’s Pihla Kaivo-Oja. The Finnish southpaw held a narrow advantage after two rounds, but Cirkovic finished strongly to secure a 3:2 split-decision victory.
Hungary’s Vladislava Kukhta continued her impressive form against Russia’s Liudmila Vorontsova in the women’s 57kg final. Kukhta’s effective counter-punching helped her secure a 5:0 unanimous decision and Hungary’s only gold medal of the championships.
Serbia’s Kristina Kuluhova and France’s Sthelyne Grosy both impressed on their way to the women’s 60kg final. Kuluhova applied pressure and timed her punches well against Grosy, maintaining her focus until the final bell to claim gold with a 4:1 split decision.
Hungary’s second finalist, Luca Hamori, faced Russia’s Azaliia Amineva in the women’s 65kg division. Amineva delivered a strong performance to secure a 5:0 unanimous victory.
Türkiye’s Tokyo Olympic Champion Busenaz Surmeneli faced England’s Chantelle Reid in the women’s 70kg final. The Turkish boxer added another European title to her collection with a convincing 5:0 unanimous decision.
Ireland’s Aoife O’Rourke defeated Türkiye’s Busra Isildar in the women’s 75kg final, winning by 5:0 unanimous decision. Her victory followed gold for her sister, Lisa O’Rourke, in the women’s 80kg division on Thursday.
Russia’s Viacheslav Rogozin faced England’s Abdul-Rahman Burton in the men’s 55kg final. Burton tried to use his reach advantage, but Rogozin’s speed helped him secure a 5:0 unanimous victory.
Bulgaria’s only finalist, Radoslav Rosenov, faced Ukraine’s Aider Abduraimov in the men’s 60kg title contest. After difficult quarter-final and semi-final bouts, Rosenov delivered a commanding performance, using his counter-attacking skills to claim a 5:0 unanimous victory in front of the home crowd.
Russia’s Sergei Koldenkov completed his successful campaign in the men’s 70kg division with a 5:0 unanimous victory over Azerbaijan’s Nabi Isgandarov.
The men’s 75kg final also brought Russia and Azerbaijan together, but this time Azerbaijan took gold. Saidjamshid Jafarov, who previously represented Uzbekistan, defeated Russia’s Ismail Mutsolgov by 5:0 unanimous decision to become European Champion.
Serbia’s Rastko Simic faced Russia’s Cheerav Ashalaev in the men’s 80kg final. Simic used his reach effectively in the opening round, but Ashalaev increased the tempo in the second and finished strongly in the third to secure a 5:0 unanimous victory.
Spain’s Olympic bronze medallist and top seed Enmanuel Reyes Pla faced Türkiye’s Emrah Yasar in the men’s 90kgfinal. Both boxers showed strong defensive skills in a tactical contest, but Yasar secured the title with a 5:0 unanimous decision.
England’s Commonwealth Games champion Damar Thomas and Russia’s David Surov contested the final bout of the championships in the men’s +90kg division. Thomas held a significant height advantage, forcing Surov to close the distance. The Russian’s pressure paid off as he earned a 3:2 split-decision victory to claim the tournament’s last gold medal.
The championships featured 43 teams, including the World Boxing Refugee Team, alongside Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and Ukraine.
Russia topped the overall medal table with seven golds, five silvers and three bronzes, followed by Türkiye with four golds, one silver and five bronzes. Azerbaijan finished third with two golds, one silver and two bronzes.
Today’s final session got underway at 17:00 local time and included the remaining gold medal bouts and medal ceremonies. All results and additional event information are available at https://bul.xboxing.world/.
The entire competition was livestreamed on https://eurovisionsport.com/en with replays available.
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Press release issued by European Boxing Federation and adapted by World Boxing.