London super-heavyweight Damar Thomas beat Mahammad Abdullayev to reach the final of the European Boxing Championships in Bulgaria; Five GB boxers have guaranteed themselves European medals with Chantelle Reid winning through to the light-middleweight final Damar Thomas reached the super-heavyweight final as GB secured five medals at the European Boxing Championships in Bulgaria. Thomas won his 90+kg semi-final against Azerbaijan’s highly experienced Mahammad Abdullayev. The Londoner dominated all three rounds to win a unanimous decision. Russia has returned to World Boxing competition and Thomas is due to box a Russian, David Surov, in Friday’s final.
“Absolutely great. I’m just becoming who I thought I’d become and it would be great to win this,” Thomas said. “It’s like a to-do list. I managed to tick off the Commonwealths and now the Europeans.
And hopefully I can tick off Olympic gold as well.” Paris Olympian Chantelle Reid has also reached the final after beating Serbia’s Milena Matovic in a fiercely contested bout. The Serbian took a 3-2 lead at the end of the first round, but Reid responded with a 5-0 second round before edging the third to seal a 3-2 victory and reach the light-middleweight final. She will face Turkish amateur boxing star Busenaz Surmeneli in the gold medal match. “I was behind after the first round, but I just listened to my coaches, stuck to the game plan and got over the line,” Reid said.
“Each bout has got better and so has the opponent. I’ll be boxing one of the very best at my weight on Friday and I’m looking forward to it. “It’d mean the world to me to win gold.” Dimeji Shittu (80kg), Callum Makin (75kg) and Abdul Burton (55kg) join them as GB boxers who have guaranteed themselves medals in Europe.
