Women's World Championships: Barbados

Itssoeasy

The commentator(ye were right at the gin in the box), was right Ireland should be proud of katie Taylor. And isn't the Russian Anthem basically the same as the soviet one ?

mathepac

What a performance, she came close to knocking the Chinese girl out with that left cross - she has dynamite in her hands. The commentators are in love with her - "boxer of the tournament", "a great Hirish champion, mon" . Tons of support, acres of tri-colours, a great spectacle. Congratulations Katie and all concerned.

okidoki987

Congrats to Katie.
The Semi was harder for her, thought she might have been a bit tired after the semi but obviously not.
Totally outclassed the opposition.
Wonder what price she'll be now for a Gold in London Olympics?

TitoPuente

Top notch Katie. Well done

Pisco Sour

okidoki987 wrote: »

Wonder what price she'll be now for a Gold in London Olympics?

Gold is no certainty. In the Worlds all the talent is spread over 10-11 weights; In the Olympics there are just 3 weights so the talent will be more concentrated and so the overall difficulty to win Olympic Gold will be much higher than the Worlds. Thankfully Katie´s weight has been included in the Olympics (and rightly so as she has been the best pound for pound fighter the last few years), but there will be many other top class boxers (who have won World and European titles) moving up and down in weight in time for the Olympics. I really dont think the Irish public know this!

The Russian who beat her recently was a world champ at 54kg, a european champ at 57kg and as soon as she moved up to 60kg she beat Katie (though apparantly there were 2 russian judges for that fight). This type of thing can easily happen.

But no doubt the Irish public will hype up her chances and she will have to deal with the same pressure that Sonia did in 96.

Great result today Katie. Well done.

CarrickMcJoe

Congrats to Katie on winning gold.
She brings a smile to everyone at the end of a bad week in the country:D

TitoPuente

CarrickMcJoe wrote: »

Congrats to Katie on winning gold.
She brings a smile to everyone at the end of a bad week in the country:D

Indeed. I wonder what Katie's Philip Walton impression is like.

efb

Go Katie!!!!
Winner all right!!!
(at the dogs in Galway at a Stag)

makl

rte are showin this after the soccer.

seadnamac

Ireland Greatest Sports Person.

Catari Jaguar

She's such a legend and an inspiration to any female boxer in training Definitely my idol.

Micky Dolenz

Wow, she is some fighter. Great offence and better defence. Quick minded. she has made her country proud.

Seillejet

Is there any talk of a homecoming for Katie at the Airport?

Richly deserved.

efb

She's in 4pm tomorrow afaik

mjon3105

That's right. The party are due to catch the Gatwick-Dublin flight due at 4pm and I'm sure there will be coverage on the evening RTE news and on the later 9pm news. Thanks to RTE for having taken note of the hundreds of emails they received asking for coverage of the fights and they did arrange on stream coverage on RTE.ie plus the delayed TV coverage of the final on RTE2. Good to see them responding to public request on this occasion.

Mike

walshb

efb wrote: »

She's in 4pm tomorrow afaik

Never been in the airport to greeat any sport star, nor tempted, but this one I think I will make my maiden.

mjon3105

Well another honour for Katie Taylor as the World Championships came to a close in Barbados when she was presented with the Boxer of the Tournament award - and richly deserved. Praise too for India's Mary Kom winning her 5th world championship[s,a massive achievement.

Here is what the AIBA's P.R.O had to say about the finals day:

"
Mary Kom from India today took a fifth AIBA World Championship title at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Barbados, beating Romania's Steluta Duta convincingly to take the light flyweight title. Ireland's Katie Taylor proved quick to recover from yesterday's shake-up against Queen Underwood of the USA and stormed ahead to an 18:5 victory against China's Dong Cheng in a repeat of the 2008 final in Ningbo. She also picked up her second consecutive best boxer award.


Kom was overcome with emotion after her win. "I would like to thank my husband and my sponsor for both giving me the will power and encouraging me. I'm really really happy and I thank God," she said. Kom won her first title in 2001, at the age of 18 and has now taken gold medals at the past four AIBA Women's World Championships.


There was a large Irish contingent supporting Katie Taylor in the arena and the 24-year-old was happy enough to pick up individual points against Dong in the early stages of her final, then surged ahead in the second round to finish eight points clear. But even with such a wide leading margin, it is in her nature to attack and she extended her lead further in the third and fourth rounds to close out the bout 18:5.


"Yesterday I had to give credit to Queen Underwood. She boxed really well," said the Bray woman. "She made it very hard for me and I felt very tired in the ring. Today I felt a lot better and I just kept her arm on the jab. I've had a lot of tough fights before but in a major championship I've never felt that way before. My main focus now is the Olympic Games and we will see what happens after that."

China's Ren Cancan made it a double by beating Nicola Adams from England in the flyweight final 10:5 and Russia's Elena Savelyeva took the bantamweight title after beating North Korea's Kim Hye Song 7:3.


But North Korea did secure a gold in the featherweight contest, when Yun Kum Ju beat rival Yang Yanzi 7:4


Reigning European Women's Champion Gulsum Tatar added a second consecutive world title to her belt today with a clear 13:1 victory over Russia's Vera Slugina in the light welterweight division.


In the day's closest contest, Andrecia Wasson of the USA edged ahead to a 5:4 victory over Savannah Marshall from England. Marshall was slow to get going, landing her first scoring punches only in the third round and leaving it too late to claw back the deficit.


After taking the title in the 66kg category in 2008, Mary Spencer of Canada today added the world middleweight (75kg) title to her medal haul by eliminating China's last medal hope, Li Jinzi. China had put four boxers through to the final but only
Ren managed to secure a gold medal.


Brazil confirmed its status as an emerging power in world boxing for both men and women today when PanAmerican Champion Roseli Feitosa comprehensively defeated Kazakhstan's Marina Volnova 12:3 to claim the light heavyweight title. "


Quite interesting that the final comments from both Kom and Taylor took the opportunity to praise their famiels and God.

Mary Kom:-""I would like to thank my husband and my sponsor for both giving me the will power and encouraging me. I'm really really happy and I thank God,"


Katie Taylor: "I can't believe it. I'm speechless.Its the best two weeks of my life. I'd like to thank my Mother and my father and family.Most of all I want to thank God for the victory. Without 'him' it wouldn't have been possible"

A short holiday in Spain to attend a friend's wedding follows then a break before preparations start for the defence of her European title. Here one of her main competitors is likely to be Sofya Ochigava of Russia, who despite rumours to the contrary is NOT avoiding Taylor but did suffer an injury (cruciate ligaments) that kept her out of Barbados.

So fittingly for Taylor her 3rd world title was her 100th win in 106 bouts, a great record.


Mike O'Neill

JP Liz V1

Well done Katie Taylor hope she gets a great homecoming

nacho libre

I missed the fight on tv. I couldn't believe it when i saw on the news she had won- and in such impressive style too - after the Underwood fight. An absolutely fantastic performance. It was a really great sight to see the Irish flag being raised above an American and Chinese flag. How often do we get to see that! She really is an inspiration to many people.

cowzerp

she was great, lot's of the kids in my club where shocked at how good she was-a true inspiration..

alanceltic

Well done katie, I wasnt sure if you would have anything left in the tank. There was one left hand (in the third i think) which summed it all up for you, class.

I see O'Briens Digicell are jumping on the bandwagon, I just hope you are getting your pound of flesh from the tax exile!!!! Its amazing how boxing is snubbed by the big brands of this country, you wouldnt find a better role model/ambassador the length and breadth of this country than katie but boxing isnt corporate enough for brand managers used to the comforts of leafy D4.

Also, credit must go to RTE for getting coverage of this....fair play!

deisedelight

well done katie
ur a credit to ur country and we re all very proud of you.
awesome stuff . truely one of the best athletes this country has ever produced.

megadodge

Just adding my belated congratulations to Katie.

Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control I didn't get to see any of her bouts, but class will always out. Glad to hear she has a sponsorship deal too.

efb

megadodge wrote: »

Just adding my belated congratulations to Katie.

Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control I didn't get to see any of her bouts, but class will always out. Glad to hear she has a sponsorship deal too.

Rte.ie/player

walshb

alanceltic wrote: »

Well done katie, I wasnt sure if you would have anything left in the tank. There was one left hand (in the third i think) which summed it all up for you, class.

I see O'Briens Digicell are jumping on the bandwagon, I just hope you are getting your pound of flesh from the tax exile!!!! Its amazing how boxing is snubbed by the big brands of this country, you wouldnt find a better role model/ambassador the length and breadth of this country than katie but boxing isnt corporate enough for brand managers used to the comforts of leafy D4.

Also, credit must go to RTE for getting coverage of this....fair play!

Well said, Alan

My hope now is for Katie to enjoy the moment and then get straight back to boxing and training and focusing. I am hoping that the media and the fans and all associated will slack off a wee bit and try not to put too much pressure on the girl. Her ultimate goal is the games, after all, had it not ben for her and the Irish pushing for boxing at the games it never would have come about. She is the poster girl for this sport on the world scene

walshb

Anyone interested in seeing Ireland's greatest athlete can catch her on the LLS tonight at 2135 hrs.

efb

http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1081239

If you missed it, wanna watch it again.

Its international so everyone can watch it!

mjon3105

This article from IRISH EXAMINER'S Michael Moynihan well worth a read. Here he hears Gary Keegan talking about the pressures already being faced by Katie Taylor in the run up to the London Olympics......

"

Keegan: pressure mounting on Katie

By Michael Moynihan
THE Institute of Sport’s director of performance management, Gary Keegan, has warned that expectations of success from boxer Katie Taylor in the 2012 Olympics will have to be ‘managed’ in the run-up to the Games.

Taylor is odds-on favourites to take gold in London, but Keegan, who worked with the Irish boxers who won three medals in Beijing, says the Bray tyro will face more pressure than any other Irish participant in the English capital.

Keegan said: "There is a real issue in managing the level of expectation when it comes to Katie. The world of boxing has changed and one significant thing she’ll face, which no other Irish athlete will face, is the level of pressure in her weight division.

There are only three weight divisions for women’s boxing in London. That means those who can do so – in the weight division above her and the division below her – will converge on her division. The best in the world at 64kg and 57kg will move to confront her at 60kg, which increases the quality of individual competing by 200%."

Keegan revealed that Taylor had overcome ankle and wrist injuries to win gold at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in Barbados, describing her as a "real champion".

He continued: "She’s very good at saying she doesn’t try to manage external expectations, that she can only focus on what she can do. It’s extremely important to give her the right support structures. She has a very strong family structure – something we forget about in terms of support for a lot of our sports people. She has a phenomenal coach in her dad (Peter), who is a true world-class Irish coach."

Keegan, speaking at a CIPD breakfast in the Maryborough House Hotel Cork recently ,sponsored by RecruitIreland.com, paid glowing tribute to Taylor.

"There are very few role models like her in the country, in sport or business or whatever. She’s a phenomenal human being," said Keegan.

"She’s also managed her own development on the basis that her own sport is changing – she’s stayed innovative and creative, never becoming complacent. She is always looking at ways to become better, because she knows the opposition are always looking at how to beat her. She’s extraordinary in understanding the importance of her preparation, and that’s where her confidence comes from – it’s important for her to have control over her training environment."

Wise words indeed !