Classy Taylor strikes gold in Warsaw

IRELAND’S Katie Taylor is lightweight European Boxing champion for the second year running after she stopped her Russian opponent Tatiana Chalaya — the reigning world champion — in the second round of their final bout in Warsaw last night (18-3).

The Wicklow native, part of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association’s (IABA) high-performance squad, put in her best ever performance to take the coveted gold medal and retain her title and now has have next year’s World Championships firmly in her sights.

Gary Keegan, IABA high-performance director expressed his joy on hearing of Katie’s achievement: “Katie has proved in Poland that she is the top boxer in the world in her weight category and this win ranks up there with the great sporting achievements of Irish athletes in any sport. To put it into perspective, not only did she successfully defend her European title, but she also beat the world champion to do it, and totally outclassed her into the bargain. We were expecting it to be a tough close contest today but Katie simply blew here opponent away. She has done her country proud in Poland and we are absolutely thrilled with this victory.”

Keegan was also full of praise for Katie’s proud dad Peter Taylor, who coached his talented daughter to four outstanding victories on her way to this title. “Peter has worked extremely hard with Katie and our other boxers over the last few years. This is a proud moment for him and everyone in the Irish Amateur Boxing Association shares in that pride and celebrates a truly remarkable victory.”

The victorious Taylor arrived home yesterday into Dublin Airport.