Abdul Burton reaches final as GB eye three European titles

Abdul Burton will face Russia's Viacheslav Rogozin in Friday's final at the European Boxing Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, after joining team-mates Chantelle Reid and Damar Thomas in reaching their respective finals.

Burton, 20, comfortably beat Turkey's Semih Gumus 4-1 in the men's super-bantamweight semi-final to advance to the title bout. Reid and Thomas will be contesting 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. Makin lost 4-1 to Azerbaijan's Saidjamshid Jafarov at middleweight.

Reflecting on his loss, Shittu said: "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."

After sending 15 boxers to the Europeans, Team GB will go home with five medals and the opportunity for further gold. Walsh settles for bronze as O'Rourke strikes gold. Team Ireland are also enjoying a good tournament with Lisa O'Rourke winning gold in the 80kg final by beating Russia's Anastasiia Demurchian.

Burton, Reid and Thomas are all scheduled to compete in Friday's finals, with Burton opposing Viacheslav Rogozin in the men's super-bantamweight title match and Reid and Thomas contesting their respective weight-class finals.