Irish punching machine Katie Taylor cruised through to her fourth consecutive Women’s World Championships final on Friday in China. The 25-year-old lightweight star and reigning champion picked apart Tajikistan’s Mavzuna Chorieva 16-6 to place one glove on the gold medal she has owned since 2006.
A successful fight tomorrow against Russian Sofya Ochigava — who defeated England’s Natasha Jonas in the other semi-final — will top off a glorious week for Taylor after she qualified for the London Olympics.
“I didn’t intend on going into the semi-final to mix it up with Mavzuna too much. I kept her at length with my jabs,” said Taylor, who is coached by her father Peter.
He added: “We said we had only loaned the title back to the organisers for the 10 days of the tournament and we plan to collect it again to take home after the final.”
Chorieva, who has also qualified for the Olympics, was undone by Taylor’s patient boxing and superior technical ability. There was disappointment for Jonas, who was overwhelmed by world number 10 Ochigava despite a tenacious fourth-round rally.
But the English boxer — who like Chorieva will leave China with a bronze medal as well as an Olympic berth — was magnanimous in defeat. “If you said at the start of the tournament that I would come here and qualify for London and win a World Championship medal, I would have taken that any day,” she said.
“I know I am one of the best in the world and finally I have my chance to prove it. I am one of the lucky ones going to London 2012,” said the 24-year-old. Twelve places are up for grabs in each of the Olympic weight categories — flyweight, lightweight and middleweight. Boxers at the World Championships are chasing eight Olympic slots with the rest going to wildcards given to developing countries in Asia, Africa and Oceania — a system that has led some critics to complain that a diminished field will take to the boxing rings of London in July.
