Boxing:Ireland's World lightweight champion Katie Taylor eased into the quarter-finals of an International Box-Off in Russia tonight after recording her second victory on the bounce over China's Dong Cheng.
The 10-2 preliminary last 16 verdict, achieved at the Sports Palace in St Petersburg, was a rematch of last November’s World Championships 60Kg final which Taylor won 13-2 to claim gold in Ningbo City, China.
Today’s victory was the 22-year-old’s 36th win in a row and her 56th triumph in 57 outings over the last three years.
The World number one will now meet Ayzanet Gazhieva of Russia in the quarter-finals tomorrow in a rematch of last year’s World Championships semi-final which Taylor won 20-2.
Taylor led 1-0 at the end of the first round against the ultra cagey Chinese puncher and was 2-1 ahead at the end of the second.
However, once Cheng abandoned the sanctuary of her longer reach in the third, Taylor picked her off with a volley of solid rights to command 5-1 advantage going into the final round.
The Bray woman, who had her dad Peter and Pat Ryan in her corner, then added another five points to her tally in the fourth to seal yet another win.
Some of the world’s top female boxers are in St Petersburg for this week’s tournament - and the plan is to send out a strong message to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC are due to make a decision on whether to include women’s boxing in the London 2012 Games at an Executive Board meeting on August 13th.