(JUNE 22) The Women’s bouts
at the Crystal Hall 2 in Baku today (Sunday) were entirely in
the 60kg Lightweight division with French champion Estelle
Mossely, Azerbaijan’s Yana Alekseevna, and Ireland’s Olympic
champion Katie Taylor all in action for the first time. As
predicted there were no major upsets today albeit Finland’s Mira
Potkonen exited the tournament at the hands of host nation
favourite, Alekseevna 3:0.
French champion Mossely
comfortably disposed of Spain’s Jennifer Miranda Maqueda (3:0)
as easily as the 39:37 39:37 40:36 verdict suggests but at the
subsequent media conference was in defiant mood when asked if
she fancied her chances against Olympic champion Taylor should
both reach the final. "Of course it's possible to beat her. I
fought her twice and lost twice, but I know her and I have
studied her on film. I can beat her. Come the finals, we'll
see," she told reporters when asked about Taylor.
In other bouts, the 30 years old Italian Romina Marenda gained a
facile win over young Romanian, Ioana Mera whose cause was not
helped by a points deduction in round four. Mera,as a junior
boxed then resident in Mitchelstown, Co Cork and was a member of
the local club. Her family later moved back to Romania whom she
now represents at Senior level. Despite today’s defeat she has
continued to learn her trade and will gain in confidence as time
goes by. She just needs more experience at international club
level in Europe and not just in her native Romania. Incidentally
the Italian also had a points deduction in round 2.
Yana Alekseevna will benefit from massive home support as the
event progresses and today she proved too strong for Mira
Potkonen of Finland winning 3:0, a fine performance on the day.
Since she reached last year’s Women’s World elite final against
Taylor in Jeju, she has enjoyed ,massive personal support in her
native land but this of course can often have the reverse effect
if local fans – many of whom are entirely new to the sport, come
to expect her to win every time she fights.
And so to the Olympic champion, Katie Taylor who today came up
against the redoubtable Denitsa Eliseeva of Bulgaria. The
scoreline her did not flatter Taylor as she won convincingly
against one of the few female boxers to have gained a verdict
over her, albeit in controversial circumstances in 2011. Today
there was no doubt as to the winner with the Bray BC orthodox
winning (3:0) 40:36 40:36 40:36.
"I've been over here for two and a half weeks before my first
fight and I was itching to get in there today. I knew it would
be a tough fight because I've boxed her so many times before.
"She's such a top-rank boxer, a great warrior. I knew I was
going to be blowing at some stage in the fight, but it was a
great performance. I'm delighted.
"The first fight is always hard, just to get the ball rolling.
You'll see in the next fight. I'll be a lot sharper.
"I think I'm more hungry now than I ever was. I want to leave a
great legacy behind me and continue to win major championships."
“I think I have a lot to prove to the young boxers and I am
looking to stamp my authority on them. It’s great to see so many
young female boxers coming through and the talent out there is
outstanding”.
Dad and coach Pete Taylor made these points when asked for his
views on his daughter’s performance.
“We knew it would be a tough fight”, he said, adding . “The
other girl is a tough little warrior. She is fourth in the
rankings and always gives a good account of herself.
“We needed all that time to settle in because of the journey and
the time difference. If we had come over any later we wouldn’t
have had time to settle.
“Katie never gets bored with all the waiting around. She’s a
like a racehorse. She eats, rests, trains and competes.”
This was her 157th victory of her 164-fight career and her 7th
win over the Bulgarian.
Today, Taylor produced a slick performance off the front and
back foot to book her ticket into the quarter-finals where she
will meet Sweden’s Ida Lundblad on Wednesday.
Tomorrow we will see bouts in the 51kg Fly division with the
highlight of the day being Stoyka Petrova of Bulgaria against
GB’s Olympic champion Nicola Adams
