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19/06/2008
VI European Union Elite Championships day 3
Opening up the third day of the tournament for GB was Tom Stalker at 60kg who was up against orthodox Spaniard Juan Carlos Lopez. Tom started well, using his south paw lead opening up the Spaniard through his rear hand to take a 5 : 0 lead at the end of the first. Tom upped the tempo in the second round dominating the Spaniard by bringing in his southpaw right hook. Having started the third round with an 11 : 1 lead Tom quickly took control and was unlucky not to have stopped the Spaniard at the end of the third with the score at 21 : 2. Tom kept up his master class of technical long range boxing against the Spaniard to finish with the highest score of the tournament so far an impressive 29 : 4 victory. Tom now faces Artur Schmidt in the semi finals.
James 'Chunky' DeGale was next in the ring against the Austrian southpaw Oliver Obradovic who had been at the recent World Championships. James started strongly immediately taking control of the bout by switching his style to orthodox and through the speed and accuracy of his punching took a 12 : 1 lead in to the second round. In the second James kept up the pressure and implemented the game to plan to perfection quickly stopping the Austrian 21 : 1. He now faces the Turk Omer Aydogan in the semi finals.
Stephen Simmons was next up, contesting the 91kg for Scotland against Irish boxer Con Sheeham. Stephen started slowly and had difficulty finding his range against the illusive Irishman. Losing at the end of the first 1 : 5 he struggled to find his rhythm but persevered to try and get his shots through. Taking a deficit of 3 : 13 in to the final round, the Referee consulted the Doctor about a cut to the eye of Sheenan, but allowed the bout to carry on. This seemed to spur Stephen on but the gap was too big to bridge and he ended up losing the bout 6 : 15.
Stepping up at 91kg for England at his first multi nations tournament, Warren Baister met the strong powerful Bulgarian Asen Asenov. Warren started well, if not a little tentative, showing a few nerves in the first round but ended it leading 4 : 3. He went in to the second round showing more confidence and started to relax which allowed him to gain his rhythm and make some good shots to increase his lead to 9 : 3 at the end of the second. Going in to the third he kept his composure and an increase in confidence resulted in a wide variety of punches which the Bulgarian struggled to contain. Going in to the final round with a seven point lead at 12 : 5, Warren started to dominate the bout and won comfortably 17 : 6. He now faces the reigning European Union Champion, an Olympic qualifier, Illias Pavlidis in the semi's.
