Gabriel Dossen opens Ireland account with victory at European championships in Yerevan

Gabriel Dossen was the first Team Ireland boxer in action at the European Championships, and the Galway native got the travelling contingent off to a winning start to progress to the last 16.

Fighting in the 75kg middleweight division, Dossen enjoyed a comfortable, albeit split decision victory against his Spanish opponent, Miguel Cuadrado on Day 1 of the Armenia-hosted tournament.

Standing tall in his southpaw stance, Dossen took the fight to his opponent in the early stages of the first round, but then appeared happy to box off the back foot, picking his punches and using his strong straight left to trouble Cuadrado.

A game fighter, however, as the Spain fighter continued to walk onto Dossen's defence, albeit with little reward against the illusive Irish boxer.

The frustrated Cuadrado persisted yet struggled to get inside, as Dossen stood strong at arm’s length, while the Spanish scraped was told three times to lift his head and was visibly tiring as the round progressed.