Owen was also named BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year for 1978, the first boxer to win the award since Howard Winstone over a decade earlier. Owen's victory led him to challenge for the division's European title, held by Juan Francisco Rodríguez of Spain. The fight was originally scheduled for the end of 1978 but Rodriguez withdrew from the bout due to a case of influenza, being rearranged for three months later. It was Owen's eighteenth contest and his first overseas, taking place in the champion's home-town of Almeria. The fight was preceded by a series of allegations of foul play by the challenger's camp. Owen was promised the use of the same training facilities as the champion in the afternoons, once Rodriguez had finished his sessions. In practice, however, Owen and his team often found themselves sat waiting at the gym for Rodriguez to finish his training that took up hours of time of Owen's sessions. At the weigh-in, Owen was marginally overweight, prompting a last minute training session involving running up and down the hotel stairs until he hit the 118 lb limit. Rodriguez also exceeded the weight limit by a larger margin, more than could be lost in the allowed time. Owen and his team returned to the hotel with the intent of returning to Britain, believing the fight would be called off. However, Owen's manager Dai Gardiner returned to announce that the Spanish officials had passed Rodriguez fit to fight despite having weighed in 3 ounces overweight. Owen decided to go ahead with the bout, eager not to return to Britain empty-handed. The fight was held in the town's bullring in front of a capacity crowd and Owen entered the arena to loud jeers. The first round was relatively uneventful as both fighters settled. When Owen returned to his corner, his father was infuriated after smelling wintergreen oil on Owen. Believing the substance came from Rodriguez's gloves, he approached the referee who ignored Dick Owens's complaints. The British Boxing Board of Control's (BBBofC) representative at the fight, Harry Vines, attempted to approach Owen's team to find out what was causing commotion and found himself being pushed and shoved by members of the crowd before Spanish police ordered him to return to his seat. Rodriguez used several underhand manoeuvres against Owen, including illegal use of the head and elbows and attempted to screw his thumb into Owen's eye, eventually receiving an official warning from the referee in the twelfth round after being reprimanded on several occasions.