KATIE TAYLOR INSISTS she’ll be ready for tomorrow’s Olympic decider tomorrow.
The Bray woman beat Mavzuna Choerieva 17-9 in the tournament semi-final this afternoon to set up a gold medal showdown.
She’ll face Sofya Ochigava in tomorrow’s final (4.45pm) after the Russian beat Brazil’s Adriana Araujo 17-11.
“It’s amazing, to box for a gold medal tomorrow is amazing. The support here has been unbelievable; it feels like I’m boxing at home in Dublin really. 10,000 Irish people, it’s incredible, this is what dreams are made of. And hope fully I can make everyone proud tomorrow,” Taylor told TheScore.
“I boxed [Ochigava] in the world championshipships and I know what to expect. Yeah, I’ll arrive tomorrow, boxing for a gold medal. I’ll try my best to have a good night’s sleep but we’ll see how we go. I find it hard to sleep the night before fights anyway but we’ll see in a few hours.”
Today’s win was a different kind of battle than her first clash against Team GB’s Natasha Jonas earlier this week.
“It was a completely different fight to Monday’s really,” Taylor said afterwards. “It was always going to be kind of tricky over the first couple of rounds, She’s a good counter puncher and I just had to stay calm and comped and try to get the points over four rounds. It was a great win and I thank God again.”
Peter Taylor, her father and coach added: “An Olympic final, it’s absolutely unbelievable. We knew it would be a free-for-all but we had a plan. “We know Sofya well. It’s going to be a tough fight but it’s an Olympic final.”
