MEDAL ALERT – Dylan Eagleson soars onto the European Championship Podium
Dylan Eagleson soared onto the European Championships podium with an extremely impressive display in Armenia today.
The 19-year-old, who is fast becoming a teen sensation, defeated the brilliantly named Gabriel Masunano Escobar to ensure he comes home with a bronze medal at the very least.
The St Pauls fighter dealt with falling behind and losing the first round like a much more experienced campaigner, adjusted his tactics accordingly, won the second two rounds, and deservedly reached the semi finals.
It’s an impressive feat for a fighter competing in his first ever senior international tournament and a display that cements his status as one of the many emerging talents to watch out for.
Eagleson, who adds a Senior Elite European medal to the U22 European medal he won earlier this year with the win, will now box for silver at the very least and a place in the European bantamweight final on Sunday.
🚨Men's European Championship result
— IABA (@IABABOXING) May 27, 2022
#TeamIreland 54kg Dylan Eagleson is through to the semi finals, with at least a 🥉, following a 4-1 win over Spain pic.twitter.com/64ROIno9EA
The Bangor native found his distance early, forcing the smaller Spaniard to commit and fall short while punishing him accordingly
Masunano Escobar was awkward and threw from strange angles which kept Eagleson on his toes and saw him enjoy success in what was a relatively even round. How close things were was reflected in the 3-2 scoring, in favour of Spain’s bantamweight in the blue corner.
Masunano Escobar’s unique approach was on full display in the second and Eagleson looked to showboat with him. In terms of boxing, the St Pauls teen put together some nice combinations and managed to make his jab the rounds defining punch, making his opponent’s burst less effective in the process.
As a result, he won the round 4-1, leaving him one ahead on one card and level on four going into the last, which effectively meant he was one good round away from a medal.
The teen prospect produced that good round. His southpaw jab landed regularly in the early part of that decisive third and put him in the ascendancy. Feeling the fight slip away from him the Spaniard pushed forward more and in a more traditional fashion. That meant Eagleson ate some southpaw backhands in the middle of the round but for the most part, he countered well before his jab came to the fore again as things tamed late on. In the last 10 seconds, he called his opponent on and wasn’t afraid of some showboating, enjoying himself and displaying confidence, obviously feeling he’d done enough.
Both fighters had their hands in the air waiting on the result and it was eventually confirmed the fight went the way of Eagleson much to the delight of the fighter and his coaches.
Gabriel Dossen secured middleweight bronze at the very least earlier on Friday. The Galway fighter beat Mindaugas Gedminas of Norway to progress to the semi-finals.
Sean Mari, Ricky Nesbitt, and JP Hale all lost today and unfortunately bowed out at the quarterfinal stage.
Team Ireland:
48kg Ricky Nesbitt, Holy Family, Drogheda
51kg Sean Mari, Monkstown BC, Dublin
54kg Dylan Eagleson, St. Paul’s, Belfast
57kg Adam Hession, Monivea BC, Galway
60kg JP Hale, Star ABC, Belfast.
63.5kg Brandon McCarthy, St. Michael’s, Athy.
67kg Eugene McKeever, Holy Family, Drogheda
71kg Luke Maguire, Esker BC, Dublin
75kg Gabriel Dossen, Olympic, Galway.
92kg Jack Marley, Monkstown BC, Dublin
Coaches:
Zauri Antia
Dmitri Dmitruk
Damian Kennedy
