England have three shots at gold in EUBC Men’s Euros 2022
May 29, 2022 | by Matt Halfpenny
England will have three boxers going for gold at the EUBC Men’s European Championships 2022 after Harris Akbar, Kiaran MacDonald and Lewis Richardson came through their semi-final bouts to earn their respective shots at glory.
Bradford Police’s Akbar pulled off a sensational result – arguably the best of the tournament so far for the Three Lions contingent – as he defeated world champion Yurii Zakharieiev – of Ukraine.
The Yorkshireman had been beaten ‘comfortably’ by the Ukrainian last year, but this bout was a different story and was keenly contested throughout before Akbar got the nod on a 3-2 split.
He will now take on Wales and GB team-mate Garan Croft for gold.
Another to guarantee at least a silver was Tyne, Tees and Wear boxer MacDonald, who was a 3-2 winner over Italy’s Federico Serra.
The Sunderland man will now face Spain’s Martin Molina.
The third England boxer to be victorious was Lewis Richardson, whose middleweight bout against GB team-mate and Scotland’s Sam Hickey.
The Colchester boxer impressed in securing a 4-1 split success to book a final bout against Ireland’s Gabriel Dossen.
All three finals will take place tomorrow (Monday) at approximately 2.15pm UK time (Akbar), 2.45pm UK time (MacDonald) and 4pm UK time (Richardson), but could be subject to change around medal ceremonies.
Two other Three Lions boxers had made it through to the semi-final stage but fell at the last four hurdle.
In the afternoon session, Over 92kg boxer Delicious Orie went down to a unanimous decision against Germany’s Nelvie Hess Tiafack, while Lewis Williams (under 92kg) suffered the same fate at the hands of Italy’s Aziz Mouhidine.
