Cameron picks up silver medal in Zagreb
LOCHABER teenager Cameron Whyte made sporting history last week when he became the first Scottish schoolboy boxer ever to reach a final at the European Championships.
The 14-year- old from Spean Bridge competed in four bouts over a course of seven days before finally clinching silver in Zagreb, Croatia.
As reported last week, he defeated the German champion in the round of 16 on the Monday before boxing against the Irish champion, Eoghan Quinn, on the Wednesday in the quarter-final. Ireland are one of Europe’s strongest countries in the sport of boxing so this was a hard ask for Cameron.
In the opening round of this contest Whyte immediately took the centre of the ring and tried to set a pace that his southpaw opponent couldn’t live with. Quinn started to look slightly ragged towards the end of the round as he tried to contain the ball of aggression in his face. Whyte cleverly set some traps that the Irishman fell into to cement the round in his favour.
The next round became slightly messy as Quinn des- perately tried to force Whyte onto the back foot but was met by an immovable object. As the round drew to a close Whyte showed some nifty footwork to walk Quinn onto a huge left hook which physically shook him to his boots and suddenly Whyte was landing bombs with unnerving accuracy until the bell.
The last round was all the Scottish boxer. Throughout the round Cameron was constantly setting traps and adjusting his footwork to enable him to land cleanly and the unanimous decision in his favour was never in doubt and Cameron had now qualified for the semi-finals.
The final of the most prestigious event in schoolboy boxing was when Cameron faced Russian champion Tamerlan Aiubov. Russia are by far the most powerful nation in European schoolboy boxing so this would prove to be the ultimate test for Cameron.
This final was worthy of the two best boxers in Europe, if not the world. All three rounds were fought at a frenetic pace with an incredible amount of skill. First one, then the other would have success and every time one boxer looked like he might be getting on top the other would come firing back ferociously and take the play away. Just when it looked like the result of the contest might come down to the proverbial toss of the coin, the referee pulled Cameron up for a perceived breach of the rules and deducted a point.
This was the moment that the winner of the championship was decided as Cameron now needed at least a knockdown to gain back the point lost and had less than 60 seconds to do so. He tore into Aiubov with gusto but the final bell rang before he could find a knockdown blow.
The decision went to the Russian boxer but Cameron can be satisfied that he has made his mark in a big way on the international stage. He has had an outstanding season winning the Northern District title, the Scottish title, the Great Britain title and now a silver at the European Championships.