Conor McGregor’s megafight might be in jeopardy, but we knew Katie Taylor would cheer us up today.
The Bray boxer eased past Swede Ida Lundblad this morning in the European Games lightweight quarter-finals to guarantee herself at least a bronze medal. Of course, we know that Taylor is never content with anything less than a gold so she will be determined to win the top prize at the inaugural European tournament.
Taylor won the fight by unanimous decision and will now face Azerbaijan’s Yana Alekseevna for a place in the final, with Alekseevna benefiting from fighting in front of her home fans in Baku.
Michael O’Reilly of Portlaoise also guaranteed himself at least a bronze medal with a dominant display against Ajaz Venko of Slovenia, winning all three rounds to advance to the middleweight semi-final.
And in the last Irish fight of the day, Brendan Irvine overcame a shaky opening round against Ukrainian Dmytro Zamotayev by taking the next two in style to advance to the flyweight final, which means at least a silver medal for the Belfast man.
Unfortunately, heavyweight Darren O’Neill was beaten in his quarter-final by another Ukrainian, Gevorg Manukian, in a split decision.
