Marley and the winners
Jack Marley is among the impressive gold medallists at the European under-22 champs
IRELAND finished with a remarkable haul of seven medals at the European under-22 championships in Porec, Croatia on March 24. Jack Marley, Lisa O’rourke and Niamh Fay were all gold medallists for Ireland, with Aoibhe Carabine taking silver and Dylan Eagleson, Paul Loonam and Kaci Rock taking bronzes.
At 92kgs Marley was particularly impressive in his final. He dominated Italy’s Roberto Lizzi. He began busily, throwing accurate combinations and rattling Lizzi’s body with hooks. The Italian tried to fire back. But Marley was overwhelming him. He wouldn’t let Lizzi into the bout. Marley jabbed him back, ducked a swinging hook and struck with his right. He moved round Lizzi and landed a right hook that wobbled the Italian. Lizzi tried to rally in the third and last round, reaching for his tormentor with tired blows. He tried to force his way onto the front foot but couldn’t stop Marley taking a unanimous decision win.
To reach the final Marley had beaten Poland’s Mateusz Bereznicki and Turkey’s Emir Buyukdag, both on unanimous points decisions.
Ireland’s Lisa O’rourke secured the gold medal at 70kgs. She took unanimous wins over Italy’s Melissa Gemini and Israel’s Lia Pukkila to set up a final with Daria Parada. O’rourke, the sister of Tokyo Olympian Aoife, established herself in the bout by winning the first round and took a split decision and the gold medal.
At 54kgs Niamh Fay, a former European Youth champion, won another continental gold medal. In the final she unanimously outscored Sharon Prisco
in her fourth bout of the championship. She’d met England’s Olivia Holmes, who was coming off a split points win over France’s Salma Friga, in the semi-finals. Fay bulled forward, rarely giving Holmes a moment of breathing space. Holmes landed punches where she could but suffered a points deduction for holding and lost a unanimous decision. Fay also unanimously outpointed Finland’s Jonna Hakkarainen and Ukraine’s Anastasia Lesinska.
Ireland’s Aoibhe Carabine reached the middleweight final, losing to Ukraine’s Karolina Makhno on a unanimous points verdict. “Gutted to not be bringing
home another gold medal but delighted with the experience I’ve gained over the tournament, particularly after being out of the ring for almost four years. It’s an experience I won’t forget and a great learning curve,” the silver medallist stated. “Bigger things to come.”
She had unanimously outscored Poland’s Barbara Marcinkowska and Hungary’s Regina Lakos to reach the 75kgs final.
British boxers won five medals at the championship, a good return in its own right. As well as Olivia Holmes, England’s
Sameenah Toussaint also won a bronze medal. She unanimously outscored Poland’s Julia Szeremeta and then stopped Georgia’s Vanuhi Manasyan in their third round. But in the semi-final Toussaint met eventual gold medallist
Biancamaria Tessari. Toussaint was drifting behind the Italian in the first round. She got forward in the second, looking to plant jabs and throwing a right over the top. But Tessari nullified her successfully to take a split decision victory.
Scottish middleweight Sam Hickey also came through to take a bronze medal, only losing to eventual champion
Gabrijel Veoĉić on a split decision. Hickey let a flush right through in the first round but doubled his southpaw jab and clipped Veoĉić with his left hook before moving out. Unbothered by a cut by his right eye, Hickey had levelled the bout going into the last. But Veoĉić just took it. The loss to the host nation boxer was a close one and Hickey will be one to watch in future. He’d taken three wins ahead of the semi-final in this competition. Unanimously, Hickey outpointed Azerbaijan’s Mirsharif Kazimzade, then Spain’s Pablo Coy Bernal, before beating Turkey’s Yusuf Ozdemir.
The stars for GB were Welsh twin brothers Ioan Croft and Garan Croft.
Boxing at 67kgs Ioan Croft had five bouts in these championships. He outpointed Spain’s Frank Martinez Bernad, Serbia’s Dzejlan Toskic and Ireland’s Barry O’connor to reach the semi-finals. There he beat Italy’s Giacomo Micheli
in commanding fashion. Croft won every round for every judge. A southpaw, Ioan let his quick left dart in. He slipped shots, hit and moved well.
But Denmark’s Nikolai Terteryan
took the bout away from Croft in their welterweight final. Terteryan, a southpaw too, opened up with fast hands. It left Ioan chasing the bout in the last round. He tapped in his jab, looking for a way in. His lead hook flew round and though he took the final round, Terteryan took a unanimous decision.
At 71kgs Garan Croft looked good. He began his tournament with a unanimous points win over Italy’s Manuel Lombardi, then outscored Norway’s Don Emini and Armenia’s Narek Zakharyan, both on unanimous margins as well. In the semi-final Croft beat the host nation’s Noa Jezek. He countered the Croatian southpaw with quick strikes. Jezek stepped onto Croft’s cross and took a count for his troubles. Garan continued to pick out strong shots and won a split decision.
In the final Croft met Yurii Zakharieiev, the reigning World gold medallist. The skilled Ukrainian was busy behind his jab. He varied when he moved away before bounding forward off the back foot. Croft was competitive throughout but the Ukrainian whipped a right uppercut in and kept his boxing tidy to win a unanimous decision.
“The tournament has been a success. I’ve beaten four good boxers and the one loss came against the World champion,” Croft said. “I’ve still got plenty to improve on back in the gym but I’m happy with how I’ve performed. It’s given me a lot of confidence though and I’ve shown I’m up there with the best in the world.”