Burton leads three Brits into European finals as medal tally hits five

20-year-old Abdul Burton powered into the men's super-bantamweight final at the European Boxing Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a 4-1 win over Turkey's Semih Gumus.

He will face Russia's Viacheslav Rogozin for gold. Burton's semi-final victory was confirmed on 24 September, capping a sharp run through the draw for the England representative BBC Sport.

Burton is not alone in the finals. Chantelle Reid reached the women's light-middleweight final, while Damar Thomas reached the men's super-heavyweight final.

Reid and Thomas were scheduled to box for gold on Friday. Their places in the finals helped lift the British medal tally at the championships to five.

For anyone new to amateur boxing, the numbers tell the story. Bouts are scored by five judges, so 4-1 means four judges backed the winner. Weight classes set the limits fighters must meet, from the smaller super-bantamweight division up to super-heavyweight, the heaviest men's class. Losing semi-finalists do not box again. They both receive bronze.

That is how England claimed two more medals. Dimeji Shittu, whose full first name is Oladimeji, took light-heavyweight bronze after a 4-1 semi-final loss to Russia's Cheerav Ashalaev. Callum Makin took middleweight bronze after a 4-1 loss to Azerbaijan's Saidjamshid Jafarov.

Shittu arrived in Sofia as a Commonwealth Games silver medallist. Makin and Shittu had secured their medals with quarter-final wins that pushed the British count to five.

What makes this stand out is the quality Burton has already beaten. His run in Bulgaria included victory over a Paris 2024 Olympic medallist to reach the semi-finals, after challenging host-nation boxer Javier Ibanez, an Olympic bronze medallist, earlier in the tournament GB Boxing.

For fans, this means three separate chances for gold and real depth behind them. GB Boxing sent a 15-strong squad to Sofia, including nine Commonwealth Games medallists. The team had already been guaranteed three medals before the semi-finals, then added two more through Shittu and Makin.

Three finalists. Two bronzes. All decided in one week in Sofia. The finals will show how far this group can go.