The two dominant teams in the 42nd edition of the EUBC Championships were Great Britain and Ukraine?
The two dominant teams in the 42nd edition of the EUBC Championships were arguably the two preeminent nations in boxing right now, Great Britain and Ukraine. Ukraine were the home nation with the tournament being in Kiev. Ukraine won the most golds with three whilst Britain took the most overall medals with eight.
Light flyweight (-49kg) had four boxers who boxed at the Olympics. Vasilii Egorov (Russia) lost to Nico Hernandez at the Olympics and was the likely favorite. He faced the number two seed Gamal Yafai (England) in the final who had lost to Joahnys Argilagos at the Olympics. Yafai lost a split decision with two of the judges handing him every round. Yafai felt disappointed afterwards, asking ?how did I not win that.? He became the third Yafai brother to win a European medal and looks a potential medalist at the upcoming World Championships. Samuel Carmona (Spain), who beat Paddy Barnes at the Olympics, lost a split decision to Yafai in the semi final whilst Artur Hovhannisyan (Armenia) lost in round one.
The favorite in the flyweight (-52kg) division was the 2015 World Champion, Elvin Mamishzada (Azerbaijan). He was defeated in the second round to Manuel Cappai (Italy). The Italian then went on to lose to Niall Farrell (England) who defeated Reece McFadden (Scotland) and Brendan Irvine (Ireland). It was another division where the strength of depth in the British team was obvious. McFadden and Farrell are probably the third and fourth options behind Will Cawley and Muhammad Ali. Daniel Asenov (Bulgaria) was his opponent in the final and managed to retain his European title by winning a split decision.
The bantamweight (56kg) division was headlined by two Olympic boxers. Dzmitry Asanau (Belarus) and Mykola Butsenko (Ukraine) were both fancied. Asanau was shocked by Peter McGrail who won by split decision in the second round. This was a springboard for the Scouse boxer who would go on to win the tournament, defeating Butsenko by split decision in the final. He became only the third Englishman in 56 years to win a European gold. Kurt Walker (Ireland) won a bronze and showed himself as an adequate replacement for Michael Conlan.
Iurii Shestak (Ukraine) was the first winner for the home nation in the lightweight (-60kg) division. His wins over Gabii Mamedov (Russia) and Calum French (Great Britain) were arguably fortunate with Mamedov often enjoying success with his pressure. The big shock came with Olympic silver medalist Sofiane Oumiha (France) losing in the quarter final. He did defeat 2013 World Champion Javid Chalabiyev (Azerbaijan) by split decision but Shestak beat him comfortably. He has had numerous distractions outside the ring since the silver medal but the main thing for him will be the World Championships.
Light Welterweight (-64kg) has been a tough weight to predict in recent times. Two Olympic medalists were competing in Lorenzo Sotomayor (Azerbaijan) who won silver and reigning European Champion, Vitaly Dunaytsev (Russia) who won bronze. Dunaytsev lost to Sean McComb (Ireland) in round two, missing out on World Championship qualification whilst Sotomayor lost in the quarter finals to Mateusz Polski (Poland). Luke McCormack (England) reached the final beating McComb and Olympian Evaldas Petrauskas (Lithuania). He lost to Hovhannes Backhov (Armenia) in the final.
Another favorite was defeated in the welterweight (-69kg) division. Parvis Baghirov (Azerbaijan) was seeded three for the Olympics and surprised by eventual bronze medalist Souleymane Cissokho. He lost in the quarter finals to Ievgenii Barabanov (Ukraine). Pat McCormack (England) made the final from that half in his first tournament at welterweight. However he looked tired in the final and lost to Abbas Baraou (Germany). The German interesting only took up boxing when subjected to racism.
Arguably the best boxer in the tournament came in the middleweight (-75kg) division. The home boxer, Oleksandr Khyzhniak (Ukraine) won every fight by unanimous decision. His inside boxing and pressure seemed to stun opponents and he was dominant throughout. The silver medalist was Kamran Shakhsuvarly (Azerbaijan) who won an Olympic bronze medal.
Joe Ward was one of the stories of the Games as he won his third European title in the light-heavyweight (-81kg) division. He also won every fight by clear unanimous decision. He beat Muslim Gadzhimagomedov (Russia) in the final who had also cruised through to qualification with a good win over Peter Mullenberg (Netherlands) and Damir Plantic (Croatia). Britain had two qualifiers for the World Champions with Tom Whittaker Hart (England) and Sean Lazzerini (Scotland) both qualifying. Lazserini was involved in one of the bouts of the tournaments against Alejandro Camacho Fernandez (Spain).
The heavyweight division was also won by the reigning champion and Olympic champion, Evgeny Tishchenko (Russia). Tishchenko cruised through, the only man to stop him from winning a unanimous decision was Narek Manasyan (Armenia). His opponent in the final was Cheavan Clarke (England). The Brit gave him a tough task and arguably was unfortunate to lose a unanimous decision. His best win came over World Championship bronze medalist Abdulkadir Abdullayev (Azerbaijan) who he stopped with a huge right hand.
The Super Heavyweight (+91kg) division saw another Ukrainian winner in Viktor Vykhryst (Ukraine). He overcame Fraser Clarke (England) in the final who was another arguably unlucky loser who boxed well throughout the tournament. The two favorites Mahammadrasul Majidov (Azerbaijan) and Mihai Nistor (Romania) both lost in the quarter final to Djamili-Dini Aboudou-Moindze (France) and Vykhryst.
