EU champion Taylor targets world record

Olympic champion Katie Taylor won her 15th major title at the EU Women’s Championships in Keszthely, Hungary on Saturday and had an ominous warning for her rivals, warning them she was a also targeting gold at the 2014 world and European championships.

Taylor claimed Ireland’s fifth gold of the EU Championships — and her fifth successive EU lightweight title — on Saturday after hammering out a unanimous decision over France’s Estelle Mossely. Taylor also scooped the boxer of the tournament award.

Ireland secured 15 medals — the biggest haul in the 102-year history of the IABA. Kristina O’Hara, Amy Broadhurst, Jacqui Lynch, Grainne Gavin won Youth and Junior gold.

Lianne Murphy, Ciara Sheedy and Niamh Ball claimed silver and Claire Grace, Christine Desmond, Cathy Higgins, Ciara Ginty, Maeve McCarron, Christine Gargan and Leah Marie Doyle-Roche won bronze.

The team arrived home last night and Taylor, an inspirational figure to the squad, believes the future of Irish women’s boxing is bright.

She said: “It’s fantastic to be part of such a successful team. The Youths and Juniors were just brilliant and I’m just proud to be part of this incredible team.

“Five gold, three silver and seven bronze medals! It’s unbelievable to come away with so many medals from this tournament.

“It’s been a great week, but it was tough. The heat inside the venue was unbelievable at times as there was no air conditioning.”

Taylor also gave the “10 point must” scoring system, which has replaced computer scoring, the nod and will have one eye on Mary Kom’s record of five world titles at the 2014 AIBA World Championships.

She added: “You have to make sure you win each round under 10 point must. Sometimes, when your 10 or more points up (under computer scoring) you might start coasting and taking it easy a bit. But you can’t do that with 10 points must. I think it makes the fights a lot more exciting and it’s better for the sport.

“I’ll take a couple of weeks off now as my sister is getting married and we’re all heading to New York next week for a hen party. I’m really looking forward to that.

“I hope to have a couple of fights before the end of the year. Next year is going to be a really tough one as the world and European championships will be on.

“I’ll be looking to win a few medals at those tournaments as well.

“That’s some record she [Mary Kom of India] has,” acknowledged the four-time world champion.

“It would be an honour to equal that. She’s been amazing for women’s boxing.”