Medal hope for Stalker at Euros by British Boxing Nov 10th 2008

England's Tom Stalker is just eight minutes away from landing the home nation's first medal at the European Elite Boxing Championships, when he steps into the ring in Liverpool tomorrow (Tuesday, November 11).       The Merseyside Lightweight has cruised through the 60kg division, with a notable 12-5 win over Germany's Arthur Schmidt, on Saturday, at the Greenbank Sports Academy. The 24-year-old from Huyton now faces Vaszgen Safaryants, of Belarus, over four two-minute rounds for the chance to win a guaranteed bronze medal in front of a hopeful home crowd in what is the biggest boxing tournament ever staged in the UK. Stalker, who is one of four England boxers to have made the quarter-finals stage, also has the incentive of winning his next two bouts to ensure being roared on by more than 2,000 fans at the ECHO Arena Liverpool on finals night on Saturday, November 15. Meanwhile Ireland's 57kg hot prospect David Oliver Joyce, who beat England's Joe Murray 13-3 on Sunday, has a mouth-watering quarter-final clash against the best amateur boxer on the planet – Beijing Olympic Featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko, in what is being billed as the bout of the tournament so far. Lomachenko, who received the Val Barker trophy (voted as best boxer of the tournament), which in previous Olympics has been won by legends such as Roy Jones Jnr, Teofilo Stevenson and Nino Benvenuti, lived up to his billing with an emphatic 10-0 performance in his 2nd round clash at the weekend. England's other quarter-finalists are: Darren Langley, 48kg, Light Fly; Luke Campbell, 54kg, Bantamweight; Obed Mbwakongo, 81kg, Light Heavy.

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