The 2015 EUBC European Confederation Boxing Championships continued today with thirty-two preliminary contests held across four sessions in Samokov, Bulgaria.

A key series of matches resulted in the winners of the Bantamweight (56 kg), Light Welterweight (64 kg), Middleweight (75 kg) and Heavyweight (91 kg) matches advancing through to the quarter-finals of the championships, while also edging closer to achieving a quota for the Doha 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships.

Bout of the day

France’s EUBC European Youth Continental Champion Christian Mbilli Assomo has enjoyed tremendous success since joining the elite age group in 2014, but suffered a surprise defeat on Day 4 of this event against Italy’s Salvatore Cavallaro.

Assomo attempted to use his formidable strength throughout the entertaining Middleweight bout, and achieved some success in the early stages.

Cavallaro is a tenacious fighter however, and worked hard to break up the rhythm of his highly rated French opponent.

After his superb victory, the Italian will now face Troy Williamson after the British boxer eliminated Spain’s Damian Biacho.

Team of the day

Netherlands enjoyed two successful victories on Day 4, beginning with a Middleweight triumph for Chemistry Cup winner Max Van der Pas over Albania’s Asmer Bilali.

20-year-old Gee Bee Tournament gold medalist Roy Korving then sealed a second Netherlands success with a good win against Norwegian Heavyweight Kevin Melhus.

Korving’s next opponent will be Bulgaria’s London 2012 Olympic Games bronze medallist Tervel Pulev.

Surprises of the day

Great Britain’s Bocskai Memorial Tournament silver medallist Pat McCormack is fairly inexperienced at the elite level of boxing, but enjoyed a memorable upset victory over Turkey’s EUBC European Continental Champion and London 2012 Olympian Fatih Keles.

McCormack demonstrated his great footwork, and combined his movement with speed and power to stun his Turkish Light Welterweight rival.

Danish youngster Frederik Lundgaard Jensen also achieved a surprise result on Day 4 when he eliminated Bulgaria’s Strandja Memorial Tournament winner Stefan Ivanov at Bantamweight.

The Round-Up

Ireland’s Michael Conlan has already qualified to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games following his wonderful performance in the Season V of the World Series of Boxing, and the London 2012 Olympic Games bronze medallist showed why he is the number one seeded Bantamweight in Samokov with a great win over France’s Anthony Bret.

Lithuania’s AIBA Pro Boxing star Evaldas Petrauskas also won bronze at London 2012, and joined Conlan in the European Championships quarter-finals after defeating Czech Republic’s Viktor Agateljan.

Petrauskas will now fight Armenia’s Hovhannes Bachkov who demonstrated great combination punching against Denmark’s Chemistry Cup silver medallist Enock Mwandila Poulsen.

Former EUBC European Continental Championships bronze medallist Zaal Kvachatadze moved up to Middleweight earlier this year following an unexpected loss in the Georgian National Championships, but looks back to his best in Bulgaria after beating Slovenia’s Andrej Bakovic.

Russia’s AIBA World Boxing Championships silver medallist Evgeny Tishchenko is one of the best Heavyweight boxers in the world, and eliminated Ireland’s London 2012 Olympian Darren O’Neill in comfortable fashion.

Fact of the day

This tournament has seen many of Europe’s emerging boxing nations compete well, as athletes from Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands and Spain have all qualified for the quarter-finals.

Quotes of the day

“It was wonderful feeling to fight a Bulgarian boxer in Samokov today. I built up a strong tactic with my coach, which was to fight from distance. I attacked with jabs, but after the first round I had to change things around and my fighting spirit dominated the bout. Sometimes it was difficult, but luckily I could win, and I know that I need to improve my level if I am to get a medal in the championships,” commented Denmark’s Frederik Lundgaard Jensen.

“I felt from the start of the bout that I was stronger than I thought in the warm-up, and I think this is the reason for the huge scoring difference between me and Bilali. I am not 100% satisfied because my tactic was to box in the left direction, slip and counter-attack with jabs because he was also a southpaw fighter. I did not fight according that tactic in the whole bout, but I felt I was ahead of points so I decided to control the contest and try to reach the target as many times as possible,” said Netherlands’ Max Van der Pas.

Tomorrow’s program

The last day of the preliminaries will be held on the fifth competition in the EUBC European Confederation Continental Championships, where boxers from the Flyweight (52 kg), Lightweight (60 kg), Welterweight (69 kg) and Light Heavyweight  (81 kg) weight classes will be in action.

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