Sport

Taylor takes a final against home opposition in her stride

Katie Taylor will meet&nbsp;<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif, Arial, Verdana, 'Trebuchet MS';  line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">Azerbaijan&rsquo;s Yana Alekeevna in the European Games final in Baku on Friday&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;
Katie Taylor will meet Azerbaijan’s Yana Alekeevna in the European Games final in Baku on Friday   Katie Taylor will meet Azerbaijan’s Yana Alekeevna in the European Games final in Baku on Friday   (Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE/SPORTSFILE)

OLYMPIC champion Katie Taylor will meet Azerbaijan’s Yana Alekeevna in a repeat of the 2014 AIBA World Elite lightweight final in Korea in the 60kg semi-final in Baku on Friday.

The Bray woman will have no fear of finding herself on the wrong end of a hometown verdict as Ireland’s five-time world champion was in imperious form on Friday. She unanimously outpointed young Swede Ida Lundblad 40-34, 40-36, 40-36, with the German judge giving her two 10-8 rounds.

The Bray orthodox only has eyes for the top of the podium. And Taylor insists the prospect of facing a fighter from a buoyant home nation squad will not faze her as she has plenty of experience of winning important bouts far from home.

Taylor said: “I’ve boxed many people in their own backyard plenty of times – in China, I boxed a Chinese girl in the final of the world championships and I’ve boxed Russians before in their home nation as well.

The next fight is against the opponent I met in the World final last year. That was a tough and she’s beaten a world champion in the quarter-finals here today. She’s very clever and these are the kind of fights that I love to box – such a big fight against the home nation. I’m really looking forward to it.

“I don’t really change much, there’s not much I can do about the judging in front of a home crowd. I go into every fight trying to win as easy as I can. I’m not going to change anything really,

“I was happy with my performance today. She kept coming forward and I had to keep my concentration. She’s  a talented boxer. 

“I came out here for the gold medal. Gold is always my target in all competitions. I’m only happy when I win the gold medal. It’s what I came out here here for.”

Alekeevna, who bounced back from her World loss to Taylor to win Great Silk Way gold, will keep going until the final bell against the Bray woman: “I’m not going to relax, I will fight till the end,” vowed the Azeri.

Teenager Lundblad was no pushover, but Taylor produced four rounds of such sustained quality that the Swede was left applauding her opponent at the end of the bout.

Meanwhile, Britain's Nicola Adams insists she still has room to improve after moving closer to adding a European Games gold medal to her glittering portfolio with a points win over Turkey’s Elif Coskun in Baku.

With temperatures approaching 40 degrees outside the Crystal Hall, Adams turned up the heat inside as she took the fight straight to her opponent and clattered hooks which caught the judges’ eyes.

In the flyweight final Adams will face Poland’s Sandra Drabik, whom she comfortably outpointed on her return from injury at the European Union Championships in Hungary in 2013.

Adams said: “You haven’t seen the best of Nicola Adams - I am never the finished article and there is always something new I can learn.

“I can always be faster, fitter and I can always be stronger and more skilful. By the time we get to the qualifiers for Rio, you’ll be seeing a whole new Nicola Adams.”

EUROPEAN GAMES 


Thursday


49kg final (2.30pm): Brendan Irvine (Ireland) v Bator Sagaluev (Russia)

Friday


Female 60kg semi-finals (8.45am): Katie Taylor (Ireland) v Yana Alekeevna (Azerbaijan); Estelle Mossely (France) v Tasheena Bugar (Germany)


Male 60kg semi-finals (9am): Seán McComb (Ireland) v Albert Selimov (Azerbaijan); Sofiane Oumiha (France) v Mateusz Polski (Poland)


Male 75kg semi-final (10am): Michael O’Reilly (Ireland) v Maxim Koptyakov (Russia) (10am)