Olympic Boxing:Ireland's Katie Taylor will face England's Natasha Jonas in the women's lightweight quarter-finals tomorrow after the Briton beat Quanitta 'Queen' Underwood at the ExCel Arena today.
Underwood, who so nearly shocked Taylor in the world semi-finals in Barbados in 2010, was clearly second best to Jonas and lost on a score of 21-13.
Taylor, the four-time world champion who was one of four boxers to receive a bye into the last eight, will fear nobody, but the result does mean a crowd that might have been on her side tomorrow afternoon (2.30pm), will now be shouting for her opponent.
"I believe Katie and I are two of the best boxers in the world at our weight and it’s unfortunate that we have fight so early," said Jonas today. "She’s the world champion but with a crowd like that I think I have every chance.”
Taylor has faced Jonas before, having beaten her 6-3 in the semi-final of 2011 Strandja Memorial tournament in Bulgaria, but the Englishwoman thinks times have changed since then.
“When I fought her I was still in awe of her reputation, which no-one can dispute. She’s a world-class boxer and a great ambassador for the sport. But I’m a different boxer to who I was two years ago. I did what I had to do to qualify and now I’ve got started at the Olympics in front of an unbelievable crowd.”
Jonas boxed cleverly against her experienced American opponent, who hurled big right hands but frequently failed to penetrate the Liverpudlian’s tight guard.
Flicking scoring jabs in response, Jonas allowed Underwood to dictate the early pace and shade the first round 4-3, but stormed back in the second to move ahead, and enjoyed a spectacular third in which she increased her lead to five points.
Jonas had her best round in the last, landing a right hand which forced Underwood to take a standing count, before leaping for joy when the verdict was announced to move her one big win from a guaranteed medal.
Taylor and the 28-year-old Jonas have plenty in common. The scouser is a former Liverpool footballer and once did trial for England under-18s, while Bray woman played for her country before focusing solely on boxing some years ago.
Jonas is ranked seventh in the world, compared to Taylor’s first, but is decorated in her own right, having won the gold in the EU championship in 2009 and 2011, while she was champion of England four years in a row from 2007.
On the other side of the draw, world number four Chen Dong of China, who Taylor beat in the Barbados final two years ago progressed in the quarters with a 10-5 win over Romanian Mihaela Lacatus.
Brazil's Adriana Araujo, ranked fifth in the world, came through her bout with Kazakhstan's Saida Khassenova with a 16-14 win.
New Zealand's Alexis Pritchard will face the second highest ranked boxer in the division, world number three Sofya Ochigava, after beating Rim jouni of Tunisia 15-10.
Dong will meet Mavzuna Chorieva of Tajikistan and Mahjouba Oubtil stands in the way of Araujo and a place in the semi-finals.