The EUBC European Youth Continental Championships recently finished in Zagreb, Croatia, and the third big tournament for Europe’s youth boxers offered a countless amount of incredible bouts.

Italy and Russia both claimed two gold medals in the championships, while six further countries were able to win a title in the continental event, and among them Moldova secured a historical gold medal in Zagreb.

Bout of the day
Moldova’s Dorin Bucsa was a silver medallist at the EUBC European Junior Continental Championships in Anapa one year ago, and following that result he joined the youth level in January.

The 17-year-old boxer won three international tournaments at the beginning of 2014, and had a close bout against Kazakhstan’s star Abylaykhan Zhussupov in the AIBA Youth World Championships.

Since the Sofia event, Bucsa moved down to the Bantamweight class (56 kg) and defeated all of his main rivals during the road to the final glory in Zagreb.

His gold medal opponent was Belarus’ Dzmitry Asanau who was also the gold medallist at the 2012 EUBC European Junior Continental Championships in Sofia.

Bucsa opened the bout with some effective combinations, and took the lead in the first round against his Belarussian opponent.

Asanau turned up the heat, but his punches were not strong enough in the final round, which saw Bucsa claim Moldova’s first gold medal in the history of the EUBC European Youth Continental Championships.

Team of the day
Italy’s first finalist was their Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games gold medallist Vincenzo Arecchia, who had to be at his very best to beat Hungary’s Richard Toth in the semi-final.

The 18-year-old Italian Light Welterweight class (64 kg) boxer then had another top rival, Ukraine’s Denys Pesotskiy, in the final.

After the tactical first round, Arecchia found the best fighting distance and won Italy’s first gold medal in Zagreb, winning the contest by unanimous decision.

Italy’s second finalist on the last competition day was Vincenzo Lizzi, who defeated Ukraine’s main favourite Oleksiy Tokarchuk in the semi-final.

The 18-year-old Italian Welterweight class (69 kg) boxer continued the winning path against Ireland’s EUBC European Schoolboys Continental Champion John Joyce in the gold medal bout, and bagged his nation’s second final glory in Zagreb.

Surprise of the day
Ukraine’s Youth National Selection Tournament winner Konstantin Pinchuk, replaced AIBA Junior World Champion Robert Marton in the team, and shocked the host nation’s best youth athlete, Toni Filipi in the final of the Heavyweight class (91 kg).

The 18-year-old Ukrainian boxer won their final by unanimous decision, and delivered the biggest surprise of the last competition day.

Ones to watch
England’s Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist and AIBA Youth World Championships silver medallist Muhammed Ali has lost to only US star Shakur Stevenson this year, so therefore he was the main favourite of the Flyweight class (52 kg) in the continental event.

The 18-year-old English boxer put in a great performance against a younger rival, Bulgaria’s EUBC European Junior Continental Champion Daniel Asenov in the final which was one of the closest on the last day of action.

Croatia’s AIBA Youth World Championships silver medallist Luka Plantic was at a different level to Italy’s 17-year-old Giovanni Sarchioto in the final of the Middleweight class (75 kg).

After the Italian boxer received warnings from the referee during the bout, it was finished in the second round.

Luka Plantic has now reached another career highlight in 2014 and proved his strength in the front of the home crowd, with his title the first Croatian gold medal in the history of the competition since Dino Mansour’s final triumph at the Super Heavyweight class (+91 kg) in 2009.

Stat/Fact of the championships
Altogether, 221 boxers from 39 nations competed in the EUBC European Youth Continental Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

Moldova claimed its first ever gold medal, while the Norwegian national delegation achieved their best ever performance in the history of the EUBC European Youth Continental Championships in Zagreb where their young hopes claimed one silver and one bronze medal.

List of the winners in Zagreb
49 kg: Ivan Abramov, Russia
52 kg: Muhammed Ali, England
56 kg: Dorin Bucsa, Moldova
60 kg: Maksim Krivtsov, Russia
64 kg: Vincenzo Arecchia, Italy
69 kg: Vincenzo Lizzi, Italy
75 kg: Luka Plantic, Croatia
81 kg: Andrei Aradoaie, Romania
91 kg: Konstantin Pinchuk, Ukraine
+91 kg: Peter Kadiru, Germany

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