The Irish boxer made a successful return to competition following her controversial defeat to Australia's Skye Nicolson in the gold medal bout at April's Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast as she recorded a unanimous points win over England's Karris Artingstall.

Walsh will face former world champion Alessia Mesiano of Italy for a place in the quarter-finals at the Asics Arena in the Bulgarian capital on Friday (June 8).

Elsewhere in the featherweight event, Sara Beram of Croatia battled to a 3-1 victory against Vida Rudolf of Slovenia.

Also progressing in the division was France's Mona Mestiaen, who dispatched Helena Envall of Sweden 5-0.

Light welterweight boxer Mariam Sidibe joined compatriot Mestiaen in the next round as she won her opening round bout with Maya Kleinhans of Germany by the same scoreline.

Madeleine Angelsen of Norway is also through after she ousted Myrea Van Den Ijssel of The Netherlands 4-1.

The first set of matches took place after an Opening Ceremony, where European Boxing Confederation President Franco Falcinelli was among those to officially get the event underway.

Falcinelli, who briefly served as interim International Boxing Association President, claimed he was confident the referees and judges would "judge with ethical principles and technical competence" during the Championships.

It follows a number of judging scandals in the sport, including at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"The best in the ring must win," he said.