Katie is Queen of the ring
Taylor wins EU championship
BRAY'S BOXING sensation Katie Taylor is still queen of the ring as she proved at the weekend by adding another gold medal to his trophy sideboard. At Keszthely in Hungary, she reinforced her dominance of women's boxing by winning the lightweight crown at the European Union championships at the weekend.
We are now just two years out from the 2012 Olympics in London, the first to have women's boxing included as a sport, and it was most heartening to see the ease with which Taylor won her latest European title.
In the final the 24-year-old Bray lass had a comprehensive 16-1 win over Denica Eliseeva from Bulgaria bringing her eighteenth boxing gold in a truly remarkable boxing career thus far.
And as she turns her attention and preparations towards the World and European championships later this year, Katie's brilliant boxing CV now reads three European Union titles, four European titles and two world crowns won in the last six years.
And she is convinced that if she performs at the same high level as in the EU finals last weekend she can win a third AIBA world lightweight title in a row in Barbados next month.
She had defeated Bulgarian Denica Eliseeva in last year's lightweight final 8-1, but last Saturday's victory was twice as emphatic. Katie improved as the tournament progressed and in the final she picked off her opponent with all the precision of skilled surgeon.
Eliseeva tried every punch in boxing's lexicon, but Taylor blunted the shots and then replied with supreme accuracy that had the judges totting up the winning points.
Her proud dad Peter Taylor said afterward that they came out to Hungary to prepare for next month's world championships in Barbados. ' Katie was always in control in the final and we are delighted with her performance,' he said.
'The European Union championships was ideal as I got four bouts under my belt against quality opposition and that's what we came out here for,' Katie added.
Katie Taylor started the tournament with an impressive 8-0 win over Spanish lightweight Jennifer Miranda. She was always in control and forced Miranda into a standing count in the second round of a fairly one-sided encounter.
Her next opponents was Danus Dilhofava of the Czech Republic who was disqualified in round three, getting the equivalent of a red card after having received a public warning for her unsporting antics in the third round.
Katie was now through to the semi-final against Julianna Rocha of Poland. Marking her 94th win out of a total of 100 bouts in her career so far, Katie scored another decisive 9-3 victory, sending her into another final showdown (and victory) with Bulgarian Denica Eliseeva.
- MARK KENNEDY
