Poster girl Taylor eases into final

LONDON: Ireland’s Katie Taylor moved a step away from becoming one of the first Olympic women’s boxing champions on Wednesday when she produced a clinical performance to reach the lightweight final.

The four-time amateur world champion, at the forefront of the campaign to get women’s boxing into the Olympics, beat Tajikistan’s Mavzuna Chorieva 17-9 in front of another raucous crowd packed with travelling Irish fans.

The victory followed Monday’s demolition of highly-rated Briton Natasha Jonas.

The lightning fast Taylor put on less of a show on Wednesday but was still far too good for the Tajik and will face either Russian world championship runner-up Sofya Ochigava or Adriana Araujo of Brazil in Thursday’s final.

Earlier, three-times world champion Ren Cancan from China beat Marlen Esparza of the United States 10-8 in a virtually punch-free contest in the women’s flyweight semi-finals.

She will fight Nicola Adams for the first women’s Olympic boxing gold after the Briton, twice a runner up to Ren at the worlds, beat India’s Mary Kom in front of British Prime Minister David Cameron, watching on in a ‘Team GB’ t-shirt.