AMY BROADHURST AND Aoife O’Rourke secured at least silver medals within 20 minutes of each other at the European U22s in Targu Jiu, Romania this evening.
Louth’s Broadhurst outclassed France’s Belinda Limuka in her lightweight semi-final, finding a home for her overhand left dominating the exchanges en route to a clear unanimous decision win.
‘Baby Canelo’ lost her Irish Senior Elite final to Kellie Harrington last month, but will fight for her third European gold medal on Sunday; the Dealgan fighter was a continental champ at both Youth and Junior level.
No sooner than Broadhurst had left the ring this evening, Roscommon’s O’Rourke stepped through the ropes of the squared circle opposite where she was equally dominant in victory over Italian light-heavyweight champion Carlotta Paoletti.
O’Rourke’s superior boxing skills and conditioning were all too much for Paoletti, who was visibly tired by the third round.
The Castlerea puncher was handed a bye into today’s semi, and will face Turkish destroyer Busenaz Surmeneli – a world champion at both Youth and Junior, and her country’s current senior national champion – in Sunday’s middleweight final.
Earlier today, Galway southpaw Gabriel Dossen – tipped to win Olympic gold at Tokyo by none other than Michael Conlan – lost his middleweight quarter-final on a highly contentious split decision.
