WOMEN'S BOXING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS:KATIE TAYLOR will go in search of a fourth straight World Championship title here this morning (8am) after easing her way into the decider by beating Tajikistan's Mavzuna Chorieva 16-6 in the semi-final yesterday.
The Bray lightweight takes on Sofya Ochigava after the Russian beat England’s Natasha Jonas in the other semi-final. Taylor beat Ochigava in th finals of the European Championships in October last year.
“I’m delighted to be in another final and one step closer to retaining my world title. I’m looking forward to the final and to taking it home with us,” Taylor said after the fight.
Taylor qualified easily for this summer’s Olympics in London earlier this week when she reached the last four of this tournament.
The final has a lot of significance, because if Taylor beats Ochigava to scoop the gold she will go in as number-one seed in the lightweight division in London. This takes her straight through to the quarter-finals, and only one win from the medal positions.
At no point in yesterday’s contest did the Bray boxer look anything less than in complete control. She led 5-1 after the first round, and widened this lead to 8-2 in the second, keeping Chorieva at a distance.
“I kept her at length with my jabs,” said Taylor.
After that she was able to step off the gas a bit, but was firmly in control, her coach and father, Peter, said.
“We thought the girl was going to wait for Katie and try to box on the counter, but we knew she wouldn’t be quick enough if Katie got in and out,” he said.
“We knew she was physically very strong and explosive, so we kept her at a distance, didn’t want to get too close,” added the former amateur Irish champion.
With so much at stake, the final is sure to be very technical.
“Katie and Sofya are number one and two in the world really, they just fought at the European championships in Rotterdam at the final of the Europeans, and it was touch and go.
“Obviously they will have their tactics and we’ll have ours. It will be a good battle of tactics. Two brilliantly gifted technical boxers. She’s very fast and we have the utmost respect for her,” said Taylor.
Coming so close to the Olympics, there had been fears that the physical and emotional rollercoaster might prove too challenging for Taylor – flying to China and dealing with a high-profile competition just over two months before London.
“Everyone’s been saying it’s a bit too close to London, but I think it’s great preparation for London. It’s nine weeks when we go back training. We know what girls are going to be there, so it will be interesting to see what girls they’re going to pick for the wild cards. I hope they do that fairly soon to take the girls out of their misery,” said her father.
“Mentally and emotionally this is going to be difficult for them. A challenge is going to be dealing with peaking twice,” he added.
The women competing at the World Championships are chasing eight Olympic slots, and a quota system means the rest will go to wildcards given to countries in Asia, Africa and Oceania.
“This is harder than the Olympics in some ways because if you’re not near 100 per cent of what you can do, then you don’t go to the Olympics. The stress of it all is just trying to get there,” he said.
There are fears the qualification process could lead to a less than representative group in London, as among those waiting to see if they qualify are some of the game’s top stars, such as Queen Underwood of the United States, Gulsum Tatar of Turkey and local favourite Cheng Dong.
Katie Taylor has said on numerous occasions that she very much wants the strongest field of opponents possible to showcase the sport, and her father shares this view.
“Most people would want the easy girls in, but it’s the Olympic Games; first time for female boxing and we should showcase the best talent.
“Okay, it makes all the fights 50-50, but that’s what you want. You don’t want to be getting in there having easy fights, it’s the Olympic Games. We want to show the world what female boxing is really like,” said Peter Taylor.
