Burton Reaches Final as GB Chase Three European Boxing Golds — SkimNews
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- Abdul Burton beat Turkey's Semih Gumus 4-1 in the men's super-bantamweight semi-final, the sole British winner among three semi-finalists, and will face Russia's Viacheslav Rogozin in Friday's final.
- Chantelle Reid and Damar Thomas both reached finals in the women's light-middleweight and men's super-heavyweight divisions respectively, giving Great Britain three gold-medal shots.
- Dimeji Shittu, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist, lost 4-1 to Russia's Cheerav Ashalaev in the light-heavyweight semi-final and settled for bronze, saying he would '100% get him next time.'
- Callum Makin also fell 4-1, to Azerbaijan's Saidjamshid Jafarov at middleweight, leaving Shittu and Makin with bronze medals.
- Burton called the win 'a good performance against a tricky kid' and said he was pushing for gold in what he described as his first major championship at age 20.
- The finals take place Friday at the European Boxing Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, with Reid and Thomas contesting their bouts on the same card as Burton.
Why it matters: Three British boxers in European finals is a strong haul for Team GB at a single championships, and Burton, 20, has a shot at gold in his first major senior tournament — a result that would mark him as one of British boxing's emerging talents heading into the next Olympic cycle.
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