Katie: I’m going for gold and nothing else

Seconds out, round one over but the real fight is still to come.

That’s the way Katie Taylor was thinking straight after her victory over Great Britain’s Natasha Jonas yesterday set up a semi-final against Tajikistan’s Manzuna Chorieva at 2pm tomorrow.

Despite earning Ireland’s second bronze medal of the games in front of a sell-out crowd at ExCel she has bigger ambitions.

Winning her first fight was not a reason to celebrate.

“It will only be a relief when I hear Amhrán na bhFiann at the top of the podium — I’m going for a gold medal and nothing else,” she said.

“I’m just concentrating now on my next fight. No one is ever happy with a bronze medal. I’ll just go back and concentrate — just try to stay calm and composed.”

It was a big statement from the four-time world champion who had the ExCel weaving to The Fields of Athenry as she came back from a ropey second round to carve her opponent apart in the third before cruising to the fourth.

She won the first round 5-2 but allowed Jonas back into the fight in the second when she went toe-to-toe which suited Jonas who tied the round at 5-5.

The third, however, saw Taylor at her best, scoring from multi-punch combinations and picking off points from some powerful single shots, giving Jonas a standing count and winning the round 9-4. From there on she sailed through, winning the fourth 7-4.

“In the second round she stopped doing what she was doing in the first round and I got a bit concerned,” high performance coach, Billy Walsh admitted. “But Zaur [Antia] got her back together and she came out for the third round all guns blazing.’’

Katie admitted: “I wasn’t doing what I was told in the second round.

“I was getting caught with a few backhands and the third round was crucial really. It’s really what won me the fight, the first and the third rounds. I just had to hold on to that lead then in the fourth round.

“But it was such a tough contest, it was always going to be a tough contest, Ireland against Great Britain. I couldn’t let her beat me really.

“I couldn’t believe it, it was such an amazing atmosphere. I knew it was going to be great but it took me by surprise a small bit. It’s a privilege to box for them as well as my country and for my family.

“I just try to stay calm and composed. I don’t try to play to the crowd too much because you can burn up too much energy. I just try to stay relaxed all the way through. It’s hard not to get excited with that crowd. I definitely think I had more support than the GB [fighter] there which was incredible really.”

But despite the support from the crowd she knew she would get nothing easy and Jonas made it difficult.

“My dad told me she had a deceptively long reach and I had to watch out for her,” she said.

“Sometimes she slipped past me with it. I knew it was going to be a tough contest and I was expecting maybe a battle of nerves today and that’s exactly what I got.

“It was my first fight in the competition and it’s always kind of hard to get into the competition but, overall, I’m generally happy.”

Katie’s father and coach, Pete, was thanking Brian Peters for having her on the Bernard Dunne world title fight undercard as it helped prepare her for the atmosphere yesterday afternoon.

“It was unbelievable,” he said. “And I want to thank Brian Peters because we’ve experienced that before in the O2 on the Bernard Dunne card, so it wasn’t a shock to her. She’s had that kind of ovation. So it was great experience that stood to her today.’’

He insisted we have not seen the best of Katie yet and she will improve still further.

“She needed that one fight just to get a bit of the nerves,” he said.

“We’ve had a long wait and she’s not sparred for 11 days so you’ve got to kind of grow into a tournament. And now she’s in. She’s up and running and she’s flying now.

“She’s 60% there, next time she’ll be 80% and in the final she’ll be 100%.

“I was a nervous wreck this morning. Katie was grand. Like we’ve a routine. Ma came over and prayed with her and we went for a little walk — got something to eat. Same as we always do for any tournament whether we’re boxing in Bray or boxing in World Championships — same routine — same nerves to tell you the truth.”

Jonas said herself and Katie Taylor had done women’s boxing some justice and hoped it would change a few opinions about it. “That’s what women’s boxing is about at its highest level and I hope we have proved that to people,’’ she said.

“I hope young people will want to get involved and sceptics realise that at the highest level women’s boxing is just as good as men’s amateur boxing.

“The atmosphere is always electric. Being a Scouser, we’re used to a lot of Irish people. A lot of Liverpudlians descend from Irish people. I’m used to noise like that. It was a great atmosphere and what a way to get behind women’s boxing with how many turned out and cheered us on.

“We both gave it all that we had in there. We both appreciated each other’s efforts.

“I expect Katie to win gold and I’ll be behind her 100% after that performance. As I say I’ve got no issues, there’s nothing else I could have done. I wish her all the best with the rest of the tournament. It would be nice to know that you got beaten by the eventual winner.”