KATIE TAYLOR stamped her dominance on the bout from the opening seconds of her WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO title defence against Miriam Gutierrez at Wembley Arena on Saturday (November 14).
The Spaniard was Taylor’s mandatory challenger but could not cope with her speed, her accuracy or her vicious combination punching. The Irish star shook up Gutierrez inside the first minute, driving her into a corner.
After a hard title fight with Delfine Persoon in August, only three months before, Taylor had shaken off any after affects. She was in form and pried apart Gutierrez’s defence with ruthless precision. Her left hook scythed between the Spaniard’s punches, whipping into the body, then instantly cracking up to the head.
Taylor’s right countered Gutierrez’s jab with jarring force. The challenger was lucky to make it through the opening round. Taylor had seen her hesitate and stepped to her at once. She doubled her right cross expertly. In the third round a massive left hook shook Gutierrez up badly. At the end of the fourth a rapid right-left sent Gutierrez down to the canvas. She survived, but the onslaught kept on coming throughout the fight. Gutierrez could not stop the punches connecting, couldn’t halt the attacks flying in and could only rely on her tough resilience to get her through.
She went the distance, but the punishment was such it could have been halted in the third or fourth round onwards without complaint.
Taylor won a unanimous decision after 10 rounds, 100-89 for Robert Williams, 100-90 for Mark Lyson and 99-91 for Victor Loughlin. (It’s unclear what round he scored for Gutierrez.) John Latham refereed.
After a contentious draw with Natasha Jonas last August, WBC super-featherweight champion Terri Harper returned to action with a stoppage victory over the previously unbeaten Katharina Thanderz. Harper kept the Norwegian at bay with thumping straight one-twos. She was timing her shots expertly and picking moments to move off before driving back in once again. She revealed afterwards that she hurt her right hand in the fourth, her boxing though gave her opponent no indication.
Their heads clashed in the ninth round but it was savage left hook to the body that badly hurt Thanderz. She retreated, showing her discomfort too obviously. Harper pressed home her advantage and though Thanderz was on her feet, referee Victor Loughlin stepped in to end it at 1-12 on the ninth round.
Rachel Ball towered over Jorgelina Guanini but struggled to make the best use of her reach advantage in the first half of their 10 round contest. Guanini picked out openings before sidling clear. But Ball forced the issue, raising her output to hammer in combinations, taking the victory. She won unanimously, although the judges were generous giving Ball the decision 99-92 and 99-91 twice.
