Oumiha, Russo and McGrail could be the main stars of the upcoming EUBC European Union Boxing Championships

The last EUBC competition in 2018 the EUBC European Union Boxing Championships will be held in Valladolid, Spain from the forthcoming days. AIBA World Champions such as France’s Sofiane Oumiha and Italy’s veteran Clemente Russo are also registered to take part besides to EUBC Champion Peter McGrail of England.

The day of the arrivals and the Technical Meeting is scheduled on November 8 before the start of the competition period. The preliminaries of the EUBC European Union Boxing Championships will be starting on November 9 and all the competition to be continued with the quarter-finals until November 15. Following the rest day the semi-finals are scheduled on November 17 and the finals will be held in Valladolid on November 18.

The EUBC European Union Boxing Championships will be held in 10 men’s elite weight classes in Valladolid: 49kg, 52kg, 56kg, 60kg, 64kg, 69kg, 75kg, 81kg, 91kg and +91kg. The competition venue during the preliminaries, quarter-finals and semi-finals will be the Pabellon Pilar Fernandez Valderrama and following these competition days the finals are scheduled to take place in the impressive new Cupula del Milenio.

The first edition of the European Union Boxing Championships was held in Strasbourg, France fifteen years ago in 2003 when the local stars as Jerome Thomas, Ali Hallab and Willy Blain impressed. Madrid, Cagliari, Pecs, Dublin, Cetniewo, Odense and Sofia were the next hosts of the EUBC European Union Boxing Championships.

The last edition was scheduled to take place in Sofia in 2014 where Olympic medallists such as Italy’s Vincenzo Mangiacapre and Moldova’s Veaceslav Gojan were also among the winners. Altogether seven countries shared the 10 gold medals in the last edition of the EUBC European Union Boxing Championships four years ago.

Twenty-five nations and 146 boxers registered to the upcoming EUBC European Union Boxing Championships. The following nations will be attending in the Valladolid event: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Moldova, Monaco, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, host Spain and Wales.

Italy’s two-time AIBA World Champion Clemente Russo is a veteran boxer but he returned and he is planning to attend at the super heavyweight (+91kg) in Valladolid. Two-time Olympian Manuel Fabrizio Cappai, defending EUBC European U22 Champion Aziz Abbes Mouhidine and Rio 2016 Olympian Valentino Manfredonia are also members of the Italian national team.

France’s No.1 Sofiane Oumiha is the defending AIBA World Champion at the lightweight (60kg) and he is on the entry list which raises the level of the event in Valladolid. France’s young but experiences hopes such as Billal Bennama, Jordan Rodriguez and Rio 2016 Olympian Paul Omba Biongolo are also strong hopes for France in the upcoming EUBC European Union Boxing Championships.

England’s powerful team included their best boxers who shined in the recent AIBA, EUBC and Commonwealth events. EUBC European Champion Peter McGrail, Calum French, Luke McCormack, Commonwealth Games winner Pat McCormack, WSB star Benjamin Whittaker and EUBC European Confederation Boxing Championships silver medallist Frazer Clarke are all members of the travelling team.

Spain’s best hopes in the EUBC European Union Boxing Championships could be two-time EUBC European Confederation U22 Boxing Championships silver medallist Gabriel Escobar, Jose Quiles, Johann Eduardo Orozco and Rio 2016 Olympian Youba Ndiaye Sissokho. The Georgians are also strong enough to win titles in Valladolid including EUBC Youth and U22 Champions in their line-ups such as Sakhil Allakhverdovi, Lasha Guruli, Eskerkhan Madiev and Nikoloz Begadze.

Bulgaria’s Boyan Asenov, Croatia’s Toni Filipi, Denmark’s Frederik Lundgaard Jensen, Germany’s Murat Yildirim, Ireland’s Kurt Walker, Moldova’s London 2012 Olympian veteran Vasile Belous, Romania’s two-time EUBC European U22 Champion Robert Jitaru, Slovakia’s Andrej Csemez and Wales’ Commonwealth Games winner Sammy Lee are boxers who need to be watched in Valladolid.