Taylor takes another Irish crown

Katie Taylor has added the Irish elite lightweight belt to her Olympic, World, European and EU titles without throwing a punch.

Taylor, who will lead the St Patrick’s Day parade in Toronto next Monday, was at the National Stadium on Saturday night to accept the Irish 60kg crown on a walkover.

The AIBA World No. 1 was due to meet Alanna Audley-Murphy in the final, but her opponent withdrew because of a family bereavement.

Lynn Harvey, Michaela Walsh, Kelly Harrington, Claire Grace and Fionna Nelson all won elite titles on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, Ireland head coach Billy Walsh won’t have far to look for his light-welter selection ahead of the EU Men’s Championships this summer.

His nephew, Dean Walsh, of Wexford’s St Joseph’s/St Ibar’s BC, won his first elite title on Friday with a unanimous decision over Michael Nevin in the 64kg class. The win returned the light-welter belt to the Walsh clan 31 years after Ireland’s head coach won the crown at the same venue.

“It was an emotional night, with Dean winning the same belt I won in 1983, and his grandfather and my father receiving a presentation,” said Walsh, who was working his nephew’s corner along with Dean’s father Donal.

“Dean performed brilliantly at the championships. As his uncle I am very proud but as Irish coach I’m always delighted to see new talent coming through. Some of our young boxers won their first Irish elite titles against established internationals and Olympians. That’s the nature of all sport, that keeps squads fresh and moving forward.”

Meanwhile, Paddy Barnes beat Hughie Myers, the defending champion, on Friday to secure his seventh Irish elite belt. Barnes will now line out for Italia Thunder in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) versus the Algeria Desert Hawks on Wednesday.

The Belfast fighter meets London 2012 Olympian Mohamed Flissi in Algiers in his first outing of the 2013/14 WSB season for the Italians.