Junior Euros 2022: Finals Day round-up

Girl power helped propel Team England to the top of the EUBC Junior Eurpean Championships 2022 medals table as the squad earned four golds on a memorable day in Montesilvano, Italy.

The three England girls boxing on Finals Day were in sensational form, meaning it was gold all the way for them.

And added to a sensational boys comeback win at Under 54kg, it was enough to make the Three Lions the most successful nation on show.

‘The Pocket Rocket’, Ruby White, arguably produced her best performance of the championships in the final with a outstanding showing at Under 48kg against Azerbaijan’s Narmin Alizada.

The Sturminster Newton boxer was quick out of the blocks, forcing two standing eight counts in the first round and a further count in the second before the ref stopped the contest to give the Three Lions their first gold.

That was swiftly followed by a second at Under 50kg for Alice Pumphrey as she followed up here 2019 Schools European gold with another here.

The Purge boxer’s marauding style gave her Irish opponent, Grace Conway, all the trouble in the world on the way to a convincing victory and a standing eight count in the final round put the icing on the cake.

The unanimous points win was scored 30-27, 29-27, 30-27, 30-28, 30-27 in favour of ‘Smash’.

After a break for the medal ceremonies, Ella Lonsdale made it a magnificent hat-trick for the girls when she unanimously outpointed another Irish boxer, Niamh Keogh, by a unanimous margin.

A tight opening round was nicked 3-2 by the Sunderland East End boxer, but she took a firm control in the second, gaining in confidence all the time, by getting the nod across the board.

Her opponent tried to close the gap in the final round, but ‘Lightning’ was not to be denied.

However, it was not to be a Three Lions clean sweep in the session as John Tom Varey was beaten in his Under 46kg final by Vagharshak Keyan of Armenia.

‘J Dog’s’ winning championship campaign run came to an end at the hands of a strong opponent with a superior reach and, despite claiming the final round, he was beaten unanimously on points.

Leighton Birchall was first to go for England in the evening session at Under 52kg and – in his fourth bout in six days – faced a tough bout against Armenia’s Erik Arstamyan.

He won the first round by a 4-1 margin, but dropped the second 3-2 to leave the bout all the play for going into the final round, 3-1 being up on two scorecards down in one and level on the other two.

And as the determined Arstamyan continued to close the gap, he was able to nick the closest of decisions on an overall 3-2 split.

The next Three Lions bout saw one of the fightbacks of the tournament – and an example that proves you should never give up.

Adam Maca looked all but out of his Under 54kg bout with Mahammaddali Ashiraliyev of Azerbaijan, having lot the first two rounds to the neat southpaw boxer.

But, suddenly, the Rumbles Boxing Academy boxer produced the round of his life to force a standing eight count with a flurry of hard-hitting punches.

With the Azerbaijan boxer rocking at the end, it meant some of the judges scored it a 10-8 round and enabled Maca to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, courtesy of the closest of 3-2 split decisions.

The final England bout of the night was at Under 63kg where Nathan Barrett took on Emmanouil Fotiadis of Greece.

It proved to be a tough night for the tall Powerday Hooks boxer against a strong Greek puncher, who forced three standing eight counts in the opening round to bring about an automatic stoppage.

Nonetheless it was a well deserved silver medal for the popular English boxer.

In all, England haul of 11 medals included four gold, three silver and four bronzes – a terrific achievement by all concerned.