Durkacz among the continent’s best eight

Two fights, two wins and a place in the quarterfinals of the 2nd European Games, which also constitute the 43rd European Championships – that is the record so far of 20-year-old Damian Durkacz. The boxer is the only representative of Poland already competing in the men’s tournament. The protégé of national-team coach Ireneusz Przywara defeated 25-year-old Serbian Alexandar Konovalov, a professional kickboxing world champion, by a unanimous 5-0 decision today in the ring in Minsk. The Pole was better in every round. Tomorrow, in the quarterfinals, he will face Frenchman Sofiane Oumiha, the reigning Olympic silver medalist and world champion at lightweight.

Durkacz’s Wednesday opponent defeated awkward Russian Aleksei Mazur 4-1 today, but Oumiha has long been regarded as a typical tournament fighter. He boxes better with every successive bout. So is the Pole facing an impossible task? Not necessarily. The experienced Frenchman has not yet fully settled into his new weight class. He showed this, among other occasions, at the recent Zygmunt Chychła Memorial Tournament in Gdańsk, where he lost to little-known Ukrainian Maksym Molodan.

While tempering the enthusiasm following our leading boxer’s performance, it is worth remembering that absolute debutant Hugo Micaleff of Monaco also has two wins in the 69 kg division. In the quarterfinals, he will face outstanding Englishman Pat McCormack.

One of the surprises was the defeat of British super-heavyweight European silver medalist Frazer Clarke. He was beaten by 20-year-old German Nelvie Tiafack, who had earlier defeated our Adam Kulik. Italian ring veteran Vincenzo Mangiacapre (69 kg) also suffered an unexpected defeat. He was beaten 3-2 by little-known Kosovan representative Patriot Behrami. Russian Bakhtovar Nazirov (56 kg) will not defend the title he won four years ago; yesterday, he lost to young Georgian Artyush Gomtsyan, the conqueror of Jarosław Iwanow.

Results of the round-of-16 bouts [June 24, 2019 – winners listed first]

52 KG
Daniel Asenov (Bulgaria) – Hamza Touba (Germany) 5-0
Billal Bennama (France) – Dusan Janjić (Serbia) 5-0
Dmytro Zamotayev (Ukraine) – Masud Yusifzada (Azerbaijan) 4-1
Galal Yafai (Great Britain) – Martin Virban (Hungary) 5-0
Manuel Cappai (Italy) – Kirill Serikov (Estonia) 5-0
Nodari Darbaidze (Georgia) – Marian-Gabriel Schiopu (Romania) 5-0
Baregham Harutyunyan (Armenia) – Emil Aliyeu (Belarus) 4-1
Gabriel Escobar (Spain) – Vadim Kudriakov (Russia) 4-1

56 KG
Peter McGrail (Great Britain) – Vasile Usturoi (Belgium) 5-0
Krenar Zeneli (Albania) – Tiago Pugno (Switzerland) 5-0
Samuel Kistohurry (France) – Raffaele Di Serio (Italy) 5-0
Sharafa Raman (Germany) – Jose Quiles Brotons (Spain) 4-1
Artyush Gomtsyan (Georgia) – Bakhtovar Nazirov (Russia) 5-0
Kurt Walker (Ireland) – Zhirayr Sargsyan (Armenia) 4-1
Nikalai Shakh (Belarus) – Alen Rahimic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 5-0
Mykola Butsenko (Ukraine) – Tayfur Aliev (Azerbaijan) 4-1

69 KG
Pat McCormack (Great Britain) – Pavel Kamanin (Estonia) 5-0
Hugo Micaleff (Monaco) – Nabil Messaoudi (Belgium) 3-2
Lorenzo Sotomayor (Azerbaijan) – Adem Fetahovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 4-1
Patriot Behrami (Kosovo) – Vincenzo Mangiacapre (Italy) 3-2
Vassili Belous (Moldova) – Alban Beqiri (Albania) 3-2
Khariton Agrba (Russia) – Eskerkhan Madiev (Georgia) 5-0
Yauheni Dauhaliavets (Belarus) – Kieran Molloy (Ireland) 4-1
Yevheniy Barabanov (Ukraine) – Necat Ekinci (Turkey) 5-0

+91 KG
Viktor Vykhryst (Ukraine) – Ivan Veryasov (Russia) 5-0
Mourad Aliev (France) – Mihai Nistor (Romania) 5-0
Vladan Babic (Serbia) – Mantas Valavicius (Lithuania) 5-0
Petar Belberov (Bulgaria) – Viktar Chvartkou (Belarus) 5-0
Mikheil Bakhtidze (Georgia) – Dean Gardiner (Ireland) 4-1
Marko Milun (Croatia) – Alexei Zavatin (Moldova) 5-0
Gurgen Hovhannisyan (Armenia) – Ilyas Mucahit (Turkey) 3-2
Nelvie Tiafack (Germany) – Frazer Clarke (Great Britain) 3-2

Results of the round-of-16 bouts [June 25, 2019 – winners listed first]

60 KG
Yurii Shestak (Ukraine) – Vasile-Gheorghe Suciu (Romania) 5-0
Dzmitriy Asanau (Belarus) – Tadej Cernoga (Slovenia) RSC 2
Karen Tonakanyan (Armenia) – Cristian Eusse Vasquez (Spain) 5-0
Calum French (Great Britain) – Francesco Maietta (Italy) 4-1
Gabil Mamedov (Russia) – Edgaras Skurdelis (Lithuania) 5-0
Hamsat Shadalov (Germany) – Hakan Dogan (Turkey) 5-0
Javid Chalabiyev (Azerbaijan) – Dorin Bucsa (Moldova) 5-0
Otar Eranosyan (Georgia) – Jordan Rodriguez (France) 5-0

64 KG
Hovhannes Bachkov (Armenia) – James McGivern (Ireland) 5-0
Alexandros Tsanikidis (Greece) – Ahmad Shtiwi (Israel) 3-2
Tugrulhan Erdemir (Turkey) – Lasha Guruli (Georgia) 4-1
Enrico LaCruz (Netherlands) – Paolo Di Lernia (Italy) 3-2
Luke McCormack (Great Britain) – Milan Fodor (Hungary) 3-2
Yaroslav Khartsyz (Ukraine) – Vazgen Safaryants (Belarus) 5-0
Damian Durkacz (Poland) – Aleksandar Konovalov (Serbia) 5-0
Sofiane Oumiha (France) – Aleksei Mazur (Russia) 4-1

81 KG
Loren Alfonso Dominguez (Azerbaijan) – Mikhail Dauhaliavets (Belarus) 5-0
Ziad El Mohor (Belgium) – Jan Muzik (Czech Republic) 5-0
Matus Strnisko (Slovakia) – Uke Smajli (Switzerland) 5-0
Simone Fiori (Italy) – Imam Khataev (Russia) 3-0
Bayram Malkam (Turkey) – Gaetan Ntambwe (France) 3-2
Gor Nersesyan (Armenia) – Andrei Chiriacov (Moldova) 5-0
Abdulrahman Abu Lubdeh (Germany) – Artjom Kasparian (Netherlands) 3-2
Benjamin Whittaker (Great Britain) – Umar Dzambekov (Austria) 5-0