The national boxing champion Radoslav Rosenov is the new European champion in the up to 60 kg category. Rosenov grabbed the European title in his home capital Sofia, which is hosting the continental forum at the "Asics Arena". The gold is the first for our country since Euro 2026 in boxing.
In the final, Rosenov defeated the Ukrainian Ayder Abduraimov on points after three rounds of a tough fight and with a 5:0 judge's vote. Rosenov defeated Abduraimov a year ago at the World Championships in Liverpool, but lost to him at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and now he prevailed again.
The match started intensely and in the first 180 seconds the two exchanged blows, with no one having a visible advantage. Abduraimov landed a stronger blow at the end of round 1. In the end, the round went to the Bulgarian.
The second part was quite mixed for Rosenov, whose arcade from the fights before the final was clearly holding him back. Rosenov suffered against Vsevolod Shumkov in the 1/4 finals, and in the semi-finals against Spaniard Anders Hernandez, but despite this, he continued to lead on points against the Ukrainian. The native boxer himself also had claims to some illegal techniques from the Ukrainian.
In the third round, Rosenov's arcade opened up, and Abduraimov ungentlemanly knocked him to the ground. Rosenov was clearly angry at his opponent's action, and the situation repeated itself about 40 seconds before the end of the match. In the end, even though two of the judges gave the final round to the Ukrainian, Rosenov grabbed the European title!