European Boxing Championships: Abdul Burton reaches final after bronzes for Callum Makin and Dimeji Shittu

Great Britain’s Abdul Burton joined team-mates Chantelle Reid and Damar Thomas in reaching finals at the European Boxing Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Burton, 20, comfortably beat Turkey’s Semih Gumus 4-1 in the men’s super-bantamweight semi-final.

He will face Russia’s Viacheslav Rogozin in Friday’s final, when Reid and Thomas will be contesting for the women’s light-middleweight and men’s super-heavyweight titles respectively.

“I’m happy, it was a good performance against a tricky kid,” said Burton.

“I had to stay disciplined. I’ve really enjoyed the week, it’s good to secure silver but I’m going to be pushing for gold tomorrow. It would be pretty big to do that in my first major, when I’m this young, so all eyes on that.”

Burton was one of three British semi-finalists but the only winner after Dimeji Shittu and Callum Makin were both beaten and claimed bronze.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Shittu suffered a 4-1 defeat by Russia’s Cheerav Ashalaev in the light-heavyweight division, while Makin lost by the same scoreline to Azerbaijan’s Saidjamshid Jafarov at middleweight.

“He was a strong opponent, it was competitive but fair play to him,” said Shittu.

“He’s a tough guy, big scary guy – but I’ll 100% get him next time. I’ve still come away with a medal so I’m delighted with that. It wasn’t to be today but I will learn from it and come back.”