LISA O’Rourke has restored a degree of hope in her Irish team after reaching the 2025 Women’s World Boxing Championships quarterfinals.
The 2022 world champion produced a destructive performance to halt Azerbaijan’s Emili Rzayeva in the second round of yesterday’s light-middleweight bout in Niš, Serbia.
Before her scintillating victory, a series of dubious decisions had meant that an eight-strong Irish team was reduced to two at this year’s International Boxing Association (IBA) tournament.
And even after she scored a standing count in the first round of her contest, only one judge awarded O’Rourke with a deserved 10-8 round.
Still, the referee had seen enough within the following three minutes to draw a halt to their one-sided contest, sending the talented 22-year-old sailing into the next round.
Joining her sister in the quarterfinals will be two-time Olympian Aoife O’Rourke, who returns to the ring later today in her first major outing of this year.
With an enormous weight of expectation upon their shoulders, the pair now have an opportunity to salvage what looked to be a disastrous tournament for Ireland.
Dynamic featherweight Yan Cai, meanwhile, joins four other Chinese fighters in the quarterfinals of this year’s tournament following her split decision victory over Russia’s Lyudmila Vorontsova.
The thin margin of the judges’ scorecards did not truly reflect Cai’s dominant performance, however, as the slickster wasted little time before dishing out a comprehensive boxing lesson, while also scoring a third-round standing count, against her more seasoned opponent.
Even before the final bell sounded, there was ample opportunity for the referee to interject, with the China woman landing a series of eye-catching shots to jolt Vorontsova’s head back.
With the announcement that China has joined World Boxing arriving just yesterday, though, it could be said that Cai, along with her teammates, is not exactly the flavour of the month here in Serbia.
A win for Vorontsova at the Russian-backed tournament, on the other hand, would not have been so surprising.
Elsewhere in the afternoon session, Cuban middleweight Mesa Dayira suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Russia’s Anastasia Shamonova in her debut bout.
Her teammates, Yoana Castillo and Melani Bermudez, were eliminated just yesterday, with all three Cubans plummeting out of their first major tournament.
Yet still, there are high hopes for the female fighters residing in the decorated boxing nation, where a ban preventing women from competing was only lifted in 2022.
So while there is still plenty to learn, all three combatants can take confidence from knowing that further opportunities to refine their skills will come soon enough.
A closely contested light-middleweight bout in the evening session then saw Australia’s only contestant, Kaye Scott, lose on points to Turkey’s Sema Caliskan.
After amassing a professional record of 4-1, Scott, boasting a plethora of amateur accolades, made the ambitious transition back to three minute rounds.
And while she was ultimately unsuccessful in her attempt to roll back the years, the 40-year-old may well decide to return to the paid ranks sooner than later.
