ENGLAND were crowned champions of Europe in the Czech Republic.
The Under-19s finished top of the medals table in Ostrava with six golds, two silvers and one bronze medal.
Ruby White claimed her fourth successive European gold – and stretched her winning run to an astonishing 57 bouts.
White was up at 51kgs after last year winning the championship at 48kgs, and took home another gold after four wins in eight days.
She started with a second-round stoppage of Milda Altraviciute (Lithuania) and suffered a thumb injury against Maria Giovanna Librato (Italy) in the quarter-finals.
White (Sturminster Newton) pulled through to win unanimously before being pushed harder by Ireland’s Kayleigh Byrne in the semi-finals.
Byrne had won European Junior bronze last year and, though never discouraged against White, she was beaten unanimously.
White was too good for Taisila Pokusai (Ukraine) in the final and won unanimously again, a 28th straight win for her in England colours.
That winning run includes gold at last year’s World Under-19 Championship in Colorado, where Caitlyn Wise also finished on top of the podium.
Wise was also in Ostrava and struck European gold at the third attempt.
The Worcester City boxer had previously won European Junior bronze (2023) and came back from last year’s European Youth Championship in Croatia empty handed.
Wise powered through to the final of her third European Championship with a first-round stoppage and two unanimous points wins.
The final was closer and Wise edged out Grace Dowling (Ireland) on a split decision.
Ella Lonsdale was another World Champion who won in the Czech Republic.
In the final at 60kgs, she unanimously outpointed Maely Panizzotti (France)
Boxing for the fourth time in eight days, Lonsdale was loose around her shoulders, good on her feet and accurate with long punches.
There were messy moments in the opening two rounds before Lonsdale enjoyed her work in the last, boxing on her toes and picking off the French boxer with jabs and left hooks.
Mohammad Safari was just about punch-perfect on his way to gold at 55kgs.
Safari (The Ring) was boxing in his fourth European Championship and the slick left-hander bettered the bronzes he won at the 2022 Juniors and last year’s Youths, with a stoppage and four unanimous points wins taking him all the way to gold.
Adekalie Kargbo and Oli Male are newcomers to the international circuit who went home with gold, at 90kgs and 75kgs, respectively.
In the final – his fourth bout in six days – Kargbo (Da Hood) stopped Daumantas Vilkas (Lithuania) in the second round
Kargbo spent most of the opening round as a southpaw and on the front foot. He got his head on the Lithuanian’s chest and found the gaps with well-placed body shots and uppercuts before landing a huge shot in the second.
Kargbo smashed a right hook off Vilkas’s jaw to have him stumbling and the referee gave him an eight count. Kargbo kept the punches coming to force two more counts and the stoppage.
Male had five wins in 10 days, culminating in his unanimous points win over Eznur Abdulaevi (Georgia) in the final.
There were silver medals for females Tyika Thomas and Thabiso Moyo at 65kgs and 75kgs, respectively.
Thomas missed out in the final to Viktorie Jilkova, the 2022 European junior Champion from Czechia.
Moyo had won European Junior silver 12 last year and reached another final by grinding out a third-round stoppage win over Sure Nur Aslan, who had represented Turkey in the European and World Youth Championships, and outpointing Iryna Onopriienko (Ukraine) unanimously.
In the final, Moyo (Leicester Railwaymen’s) met Miriam Di Savino (Italy) and was beaten unanimously.
The bout looked in the balance going into the last after Moyo had been able to force the mobile Italian to exchange more in the second.
Di Savino got back to her sharp boxing in the last to make sure of gold.
