AmateurHeadline NewsVideos

WATCH LIVE – Aoife O’Rourke and Amy Broadhurst fight for European under-22 GOLD


It’s finals day at the European U22 Championships in Romania and two Irish fighters have made it to the gold medal matches.

Dundalk lightweight Amy Broadhurst and Castlerea middleweight Aoife O’Rourke earlier this week ensured that the nine-fighter Irish team would be bringing home two medals from Targu Jiu and today they will look to upgrade their silvers to gold.

Both boxers are currently guaranteed the same medal won by Hughie Myers in the inaugural tournament but are hoping to join Jason Quigley in the gold bracket.

First up is Dealgan’s Broadhurst at around 3:45pm (Irish time). ‘Baby Canelo’ faces Italian fighter Francesca Martusciello in the second bout of the evening programme which starts at 3:30pm.

The recent National Elite Senior runner-up beat the same opponent in the final of the 2015 European Youths on a 2-0-1 decision. Martusciello also won European Youth bronze at the same tournament in 2014.

A European gold medalist at Youth and Junior level, Broadhurst will be looking to make it a hat-trick to go along with her European Youth silver and EU Youth gold.

Then, at about 5:15pm (Irish time) it’s the turn of Aoife O’Rourke.

The Roscommon fighter faces one of the best boxers in the world at the weight in the form of Turkish hotshot Busenaz Surmeneli.

A World Champion at both Youth and Junior level as well as picking up a further three European gold medals (x2 Youth, x1 Junior), and an EU Junior silver, Surmeneli has huge pedigree. Since moving into the adult ranks last year, Surmeneli has won the Turkish title with three straight knockouts and claimed silver in the EU Championships.

Watch Broadhurst and O’Rourke in action below:

dpg

logo 1

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

x