News: Ian Napa has given £500 to injured boxer Gilbert Eastman; USA Boxing News

Napa donated his cash prize for being voted ‘Fighter of the Night’ after taking the European bantamweight title from Carmelo Ballone on October 17. Hackney’s pocket dynamo edged out Henry Castle who knocked out Graham Earl on the York Hall show. When Napa was told of his £500 windfall he immediately insisted the money went to Eastman..

The Battersea boxer needed brain surgery after collapsing shortly after losing to Sam Webb on the same bill and is thankfully now on the mend.

Napa, 30, said: “It was nice to be voted ‘Fighter of the Night’ by the fans and I could certainly do with the money..

“Boxers deserve every penny they earn, but I have still got a few years ahead of me in the ring.

“My world title dream is still there, but poor Gilbert will not box again. He deserves this prize more than me and hopefully when he recovers he will still be involved in boxing.

“Boxing is such a unique sport. When we face adversity we are always there for each other when it comes to the crunch.”

Big-Hearted Napa (18-6) will make the first defence of his newly won crown early in the New Year when he could be in the world title shake-up.

Promoter Frank Maloney jets to the WBC convention in Chengdu, China on Saturday and will be campaigning for his latest stable star to be ranked highly by the prestigious organisation.

Maloney says: “It is a fairytale that Ian has got this far and it could get even better for him in 2009.”

A Trio of U.S. Boxers Advances to the Medal Round at the 2008 AIBA Youth World Championships

(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – Three U.S. boxers have moved on to the medal round at the 2008 Youth World Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico. Flyweight Adam Lopez (San Antonio, Texas), middleweight Luis Arias (Milwaukee, Wis.) and super heavyweight Joey Dawejko (Philadelphia, Pa.) all punched their tickets for the semifinals with a quarterfinal victory on Wednesday.

Lopez was the first to move on in the tournament, winning a 12-3 decision over Orlando Felix Zapata Perez of the Dominican Republic, to claim his third victory of the tournament. Lopez will take on Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Gonzalez in semifinal action on Friday.

Arias claimed his third straight double digit victory of the tournament, winning a 14-4 decision over Oskar Lakomy of the Czech Republic. The 18-year-old American will battle Germany’s Enrico Koelling on Friday for a berth in the finals.

Once again, Dawejko recorded the final win of the day for his United States team, earning a 10-8 victory over Bauyrzhan Akshabay of Kazakhstan. Dawejko will face Ukraine’s Plevako Iegor in the semifinals on Friday.

Two U.S. boxers suffered quarterfinal losses on Wednesday with welterweight Errol Spence (Desoto, Texas) dropping an 11-4 decision to Boturjon Mahmudov of Uzbekistan while heavyweight Nicholas Kisner (Glen Burnie, Md.) lost a 5-1 bout to Kazakhstan’s Ivan Dychko.

Thursday is a rest day for all of the competitors in the event with semifinal action beginning at 8 p.m. EST on Friday.