Katie Taylor just one win from Olympic qualification

Another aggressive performance full of moxy and vim from lightweight Katie Taylor brought the Irish tally to three fighters into the quarter-finals of the Women's World Boxing Championships in Astana.

Light welterweight Kellie Harrington and welterweight Grainne Walsh along with the Olympic and World Champion now box on Tuesday as all of the quarterfinals matches are run off.

At stake for Taylor is a place in Rio as a semi-final will secure her Olympic qualification. For the two other boxers a win would be their first and Ireland’s first Women’s World Championship medals outside of Taylor.

The Olympic champion again put in an imperious shift against Argentina’s Dayana Sanchez, who was taller and had a longer reach. But Taylor’s speed and punching ability had her ahead for the entire bout with the judges unanimously awarding her a 3-0 win.

She now faces Mexico’s Victoria Torres, who also had a unanimous decision over Denmark’s Yvonne Rasmussen.

“I just tried to what I was told for as long as I could. I just got clash of heads there in the last fight so my nose is a bit tender at the moment,” said Taylor.

“Other than that I’m delighted, thank god, with another victory.”

Her fight was again stopped for the referee to bring his pocket tissues into use in the third round. But the bleeding nose didn’t distract Taylor from scoring almost at will.

While Sanchez could out reach her, Taylor’s speedy left jab and her hooks were beating Sanchez to the punch almost every time.

She varied her approach all along and when Sanchez knew she was going out of the tournament she decided to go to war in the fourth round. Taylor instinctively obliged for the opening moments but the direction of the bout was never in doubt.

“That’s better when somebody comes for me,” she added. “I don’t have to think too much about it. It was definitely a tough battle. The fourth round, I had to dig deep in there. It’s great to be still here and have a chance to defend my title.”