http://www.boxingnewsonline.net JULY 4, 2019 lBOXING NEWSl 41and stopped Azerbaijan’s Olympic
silver medallist, Lorenzo Sotomayor.
McCormack adjusted to the spidery reach
of the Cuban-born boxer. Pat showed his
variety of punches and moved back well
to let Sotomayor miss. He turned up the
pressure on the Azeri representative in
the third round, sending in hard, straight
combinations. The increased aggression
left McCormack a touch open, but it paid
off richly. Sotomayor blundered on to a
left hook and the shot flung him off his
feet. Pat ruthlessly closed
out the contest, right and
left hooks hit the body. He
picked out head shots and
shook up the Azeri with a
heavy overarm right hook.
A spearing straight left
struck Sotomayor into the
ropes and with him losing
his footing and balance,
the referee waved it off.
His quarter-final had
been another unanimous
decision victory over
Monaco’s Hugo Micallef.
“I’m over the moon,” McCormack said
after the tournament. “I came here for
the gold and I’ve got it so I’m a happy
man. It was a good fight against a strong
Russian but I kept my composure and
picked the better shots. Commonwealth
gold was a good one but European
Games gold is even better, it’s my biggest
achievement so far.”
“I have got the World Championships,
the Olympic qualifiers and then Tokyo- I want to medal at the Worlds
and the Olympics so that’s my next two
goals,” he added. “This is my fourth multi-
sport Games now and I’m used to it so
hopefully I can push on and get a gold at
the Olympics.”
Welsh middleweight Lauren Price
joined Pat as a gold medallist. She
delivered excellent victories in both
the final, where Price defeated Olympic
silver medallist Nouchka Fontijin on
a split decision, and
the semi-final, where
the Briton unanimously
outscored Russia’s
Darima Sandakova.
“I said it would be a good
fight and I would need
a good performance
[in the final] and that’s
what I delivered,” Price
said. “She’s a world class
fighter and an Olympic
silver medallist and
I knew I had nothing to
lose and just to let it flow.
“I felt calm. I used my speed and my
footwork. I stuck to my gameplan, had
a big second round and here I am as
European Games champion.”
Price began her campaign in Minsk
unanimously outpointing Ireland’s
Aoife O’Rourke, who had beaten the
host nation’s Viktoryia Kebikava on a
split decision.
Ben Whittaker was unfortunate
not to join his GB team mates at the
summit of the podium. Loren Alfonso
Dominguez, boxing for Azerbaijan,
managed to edge him out of the 81kgs
final on a split decision. “I thought I had
done enough to nick it but you can’t just
do enough to nick it you have to win
convincingly. I enjoyed it and thought
I got the cleaner shots but I’m not going
to complain and the next time I have to
make it more convincing,” Whittaker said.
He won his silver medal after
unanimously outpointing Armenia’s
Gor Nersesyan in the semi-final.
A unanimous decision over Austria’s
Umar Dzambekov, then a split decision
victory over Germany’s Abdulrahman
Abu Lubdeh in the quarter-finals
guaranteed him a medal. “Every time
I put a Great Britain vest on it’s a dream
come true. I remember watching the
first European Games and thinking even
making it to the next one would be an
achievement and I’ve made it on to
the podium. But me being a bit greedy
I wanted it to be a gold medal. Looking
back in a few months I’m sure I’ll be
happy with the achievement but right
now I am very disappointed,” Whittaker
added.
English heavyweight Cheavon Clarke
secured the first medal for the GB boxing
team at the European Games when he
unanimously outscored Holland’s Peter
Mullenberg in their June 25 quarter-
final. But in the semi-final he lost to host
nation heavyweight Uladzislay➤‘I FELT
CALM.
I USED
MY SPEED
AND MY
FOOTWORK’
WINNER:
Price gets
the decision
over Fontijin