Taylor fighting fit for final
“This was certainly one of her best ever performances,” her father and coach, Pete Taylor, a former national intermediate champion, said. “This was always going to be a close contest.”
He was referring to the acute rivalry between the pair. At the last European championships they also touched gloves at the semi-final stages and after they were tied at 12-12 at the end of a thrilling contest the title verdict went to the Bray boxer on countback and she went on to win the title.
Since then, they clashed in this year’s EU championships and Patar reversed the earlier decision.
On this occasion, they were tied at three points apiece at the end of one of those getting-to-know-you first rounds but then the 19-year-old Bray girl turned on the style to win the round 7-5 through sheer class and lay the foundations for victory. She picked off the aggressive Turk, caught her with some clean, accurate punches to such an extent that the computer score of 10-8 did not entirely reflect her performance.
She was now in control of affairs with Patar digging deep into her reservoir of experience in an attempt to come up with some answers. She found plenty, scored with some excellent shots but, all the time, Taylor was just that much quicker to the punch and held her own to win the last round 8-7 for an 18-15 victory.
The victory assures Taylor of a silver medal but the performance would indicate that Patiana Shalaya will find it difficult to take her title.
Shalaya, the world champion from last year, booked her place in the final by virtue of an 18-12 victory over Anna Aksprzak of Poland in the other semi-final.
Having beaten the world number 2, Taylor can establish herself at the top of the pile in this contest and, with female boxing a serious contender for the Olympic schedule, that would be a huge plus for her as they head into the pre-Olympic qualification year.
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