A WORLD CHAMP IN WAITING
Katie Taylor continues her relentless march towards title with lethal performance in Wembley
KATIE TAYLOR continued her relentless march towards a world title with a dominant seventh-round stoppage of Nina Meinke at Wembley.
Taylor dominated her opponent from start to finish to extend her unbeaten professional record to five straight victories since joining the paid ranks last November.
Meinke struggled to cope with Taylor’s aggressive approach and referee Howard Foster eventually called a stop to the bout midway through the seventh round with the German’s left eye heavily swollen.
The 30-year-old, who claimed her gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, is now expected to face Uruguyan fighter Cecilia Comunales next year.
Comunales currently holds the WBA lightweight world title and Taylor spoke of her desire to unify the division after beating Meinke.
On the undercard of the heavyweight championship bout between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko, many in the crowd were still taking their seats when Taylor got into the ring at the famous stadium.
The German began the contest quite conservatively with Taylor well on top without quite forcing the issue.
After taking the first two rounds, there was a bizarre start to the third when the German emerged from her corner minus her gumshield, however it proved to be little distraction for Taylor who went on to claim the round. The damage to Meinke’s eye was first apparent during the fourth round when the Bray fighter was assuming control.
As her opponent began to tire, Taylor landed some telling blows including a number of decisive uppercuts and by the seventh round, the referee stepped in to halt proceedings
Meanwhile, Luke Campbell has defeated Colombia’s Darleys Perez in nine rounds at Wembley to earn his shot at WBA lightweight champion Jorge Linares. The Olympic gold medallist, whose fight was watched from ringside by Venezuela’s Linares, secured the finest win of his career by appearing to win all but the first of the full eight rounds of the title eliminator until Perez withdrew in the ninth.
His superior skill-set and natural power had gradually built a convincing lead as he landed to both head and body, and from the eighth round Perez became increasingly uncomfortable.
Wearing the look of a fighter being worn down and unable to stop the flow of Campbell’s attacks, in the ninth he complained to referee Steve Gray he had injured his left arm before attempting to fight on.
He did so with little conviction, and as Campbell applied further pressure, Gray intervened and waved the fight over after one minute and 28 seconds of that round.
There was also a win for Wales’ Joe Cordina, the Rio 2016 Olympian, who stopped Russia’s Sergej Vib in the first round to earn his second stoppage from two professional fights.