Terrific Taylor lands another gold

IT was high fives all round for Katie Taylor on Saturday night after she claimed her fifth European Senior title in a row in Rotterdam.

A 10-5 decision over Russia’s two-time world champion Sofya Ochigava saw the Bray woman, who is also the world and EU lightweight champion, secure her 12th majorinternational gold medal at the European Championships.

Saturday’s verdict was sweet revenge for the 25-year-old who was controversially adjudged to have lost to the Russian southpaw at a Grand Prix in the Czech Republic last year.

Taylor, who led 1-0 after the first round courtesy of a flashing right early in the round, resisted the temptation to engage with Ochigava in the second and picked off her shots to lead 4-1 by the end of the round. The third round was another cagey affair. However, Taylor patiently built on her advantage to land an unprecedented haul of European gold medals.

Taylor’s dad and coach, Peter Taylor, who was working Ireland’s corner along with Zuar Antia and Damien Walsh, reckoned they got the tactics spot on.

“We studied all of Ochigava’s fights out here this week and the important thing was that Katie remained patient,” he said.

“The Russian girl wanted her to come forward but Katie stayed composed and implemented the tactics. We had to hold her back at one stage as she wanted to go for her but that would have played into her hands.”

Taylor believes Ochigava is a world class boxer: “Sofya is one of the best opponents I have ever met and I’m absolutely thrilled with the win, I can’t believe it really.

“She said to me after the final that ‘we can be friends now’,” said the two-time AIBA world female boxer of the year.

“It’s always a great feeling to win. In fact, it gets better every time. There was a lot of pressure on me going into this tournament and that pressure was there again this week.

“Each day you have to pick yourself up mentally for a new contest and a new challenge, but that’s where my preparation and experience comes in. I have competed in quite a lot of major international tournaments and I have the experience of dealing with that pressure now. I make sure that I’m am prepared well and I focus on one fight at a time.”

Meanwhile, Taylor has now beaten all of the top lightweights in the world heading into the AIBA World Women’s Championships — where she will be aiming for four-in-a-row — in China next May.

That tournament will act as the only Olympic qualifier for female boxers for the 30th Olympiad in London. The three Olympic weight categories for women are flyweight, lightweight and middleweight.

“I’ll take a few weeks off now and then we’ll begin to prepare for the World Championships and Olympic qualifiers. That will be the biggest tournament of my life,” concluded Taylor.

Tyrone-native Michael Gallagher was named as the best referee and judge of the year by world amateur boxing chiefs AIBA on Friday.