By Alexey Sukachev
XXXVIII European Amateur Championship successfully ended yesterday at “Megasport” arena in Moscow, Russia. Theex-Soviet school of boxing once again proved it superiority on European stage bringing nine gold medals to its representatives (including German Denis Makarov who is also the product of the aforementioned system). The entire tournament was a usual showcase of its biggest strengths and profound structure of preparations as 21 out of 44 medals (22 including Makarov) were captured by amateurs from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan, including 8 first place, 3 second places and 10 third places.
Not surprisingly, the hosting Russian national team was the dominating force in the Championship, capturing 7 gold and 1 bronze medal. Russian fighters dominated all pf the heavier weight classes. Middleweight Artem Chebotarev, 21, probably the most exciting fighter of the tournament, ended it with a war against Darren O’Neill that had people on their toes. Hard-hitting light heavyweight Artur Beterbiyev became the two-time continental champion (along with Albert Selimov) and proved once again to be possibly P4P #1 amateur knockout artist in the world, scoring three stoppages en route to a convincing victory. Heavyweight Egor Mekhontsev wasn’t impressive in the openings, as was the case with Tervel Pulev in the final, but gradually became better and better as bouts progressed. Finally, super heavyweight Sergey Kuzmin was the biggest sensation of the entire tournament as he defeated two-time world and once Olympic gold medalist Roberto Cammarelle and proved that win was no fluke by overcoming experienced Belarus Victor Zuyev in the final to get his first continental accolades.
In lighter weight classes, both Albert Selimov and Misha Aloyan delivered masterful performances to get well-deserved gold medals at lightweight and flyweight respectfully. It’s worth noting, however, that P4P #1 fighter in the world Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine chose not to take part in the tournament (alongside Alexander Usik). Irish Paddy Barnes was a dominant force in light flyweight while Denis Makarov became one of the tournament’s biggest novas after upsetting huge favorite and ex-world champion Sergey Vodopianov.
The entire set of stats was collected by this reporter from the official site of Russian Boxing Federation and can be downloaded here .
