Boxing pugilist, I beat European (7)
I believe the answer is:
italian
'european' is the definition.
(Italian is an example)
'boxing pugilist i beat' is the wordplay.
'boxing' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('box' can mean contain, as in to put in a box).
'pugilist' becomes 'Ali' (Muhammad Ali - a pugilist is a boxer).
'beat' becomes 'tan' (tan can mean to beat or hit).
'i'+'tan'='itan'
'ali' placed within 'itan' is 'ITALIAN'.
(Other definitions for italian that I've seen before include "A Latin I turn up in Tuscany, say" , "Mussolini was one" , "drink" , "From Naples or Turin, perhaps?" , "Ain't Ali out of Rome, perhaps?" .)