Luke Campbell has a smart head on very slender shoulders. The first European amateur champion from Britain in 47 years is already a gold-medal prospect for the London Olympics in 2012, but the 21-year-old from Hull knows that he has plenty of improving to do.

After Great Britain's boxers produced their best Olympic display in 52 years in Beijing, Campbell showed that there could be a golden generation behind them as he won the bantamweight gold medal at the European Championships at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, on Saturday. He beat Detelin Dalakliev, of Bulgaria, in the final on a countback after the bout finished 5-5.

“I just wanted to come here and get my foot in the door and start building myself up,” Campbell said. “I've got the gold medal so I'm here and I'm going to build higher and higher now.”

The last English boxer to win a gold medal at the biennial championships was Frankie Taylor at featherweight in Belgrade in 1961. A boxer from the home nations had not reached a final in a decade and only one medal had been won in that period.

Frankie Gavin, the world amateur champion, who was sent home before the Games, is the only member of the eight-man team from Beijing to turn professional, but the hopes are that two of the team will remain amateur for the next four years.

Campbell had spent recent years in the England development squad but took his chance on his promotion, winning five times in ten days. “Luke lives the life and he's a joy to train,” Mick Bromby, the coach of St Paul's, Campbell's club, said. “He's come a long way from the first time he came into the gym and he was just another chubby kid. But now he's the European champion and he deserves it so much.”

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