JOE WARD CLAIMED gold at the European Championships light-heavyweight final in Kharkiv, Ukraine today.
The Moate native defeated Russia’s Muslim Gadzhimagomedov to win the European title for a third time in his career.
Ward backed up his previous wins of 2011 and 2015 with a controlled performance against the Russian, who had a significant reach and height advantage.
After a tight opening round, Ward’s class told in the second and he landed some good jabs with the right. In the third and final round, Gadzhimagomedov worked hard to recover his deficit but Ward secured a unanimous victory from all five judges.
It means the Irish leave the tournament with one gold and two bronze medals, after Kurt Walker and Brendan Irvine’s performances to claim the latter two.
