INPHO / Dan Sheridan
INPHO / Dan Sheridan / Dan Sheridan
– Niall Kelly reports from Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro
WHAT HAPPENED TO Katie Taylor? Where do you even start?
With the judges, as coaches Zaur Antia and Eddie Bolger did?
With the preparations in the Irish camp?
With Pete, whose absence from his daughter’s corner has coincided with the worst run of results of her career?
The fairest place to start is with the legacy of a fighter who has already guaranteed her standing as one of Irish sport’s all-time greats, irrespective of what happened in the ring on Monday and what unfolds from this point forth.
We shouldn’t need reminding of a CV that deserves to be inscribed in gold: six European championships, five EU championships, five world championships, an Olympic gold medal and a deserved reputation as one of the most dominant boxers the amateur game has ever seen, male or female.
Katie Taylor was the first to admit that she should have comfortably beaten Mira Potkonen in the lightweight quarter-finals, where a win would have guaranteed the defending champion a second Olympic medal of some description.
INPHO / Dan Sheridan
INPHO / Dan Sheridan / Dan Sheridan
“In real time, I thought I did do enough to win,” she said in the immediate aftermath, the shock starting to take hold.
“But I should be winning those fights a bit more convincingly. I’m not here to make excuses or anything.”
The Finnish veteran, who only took up competitive boxing at the age of 26 after the birth of her two children, has never posed a problem before. When they met in the EU Championships and the World Championships, Taylor was as comfortable as you would expect.
It speaks volumes that Potkonen was the opponent hand-picked to come to Ireland as part of Taylor’s homecoming tour after her London 2012 success. An invitation to fight in the Ballywaltrim Community Centre in Taylor’s native Bray was never going to be extended to anyone who might threaten a shock.
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INPHO / Dan Sheridan
INPHO / Dan Sheridan / Dan Sheridan
Potkonen arrived here arguably in the form of her life, having taken bronze — as Taylor did — at the world championships earlier this year. On the other hand, Taylor’s aura of invincibility had been pierced by her defeats against Yana Alekseevna and Estelle Mossely in April and May, and the surrender of the world title she had held since 2006.
The Finns sensed she was ripe for a shock. The sports section of the country’s largest daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, proclaimed her as “the shaky champion” in its front page splash on Monday morning.
Sports section of Finland's biggest paper this morning. "Katie Taylor, the shaky champion" pic.twitter.com/u0SCRd5wTK
The Irish camp took a very different view. “Class is permanent,” Bolger reminded us over the weekend when asked if there were any lingering effects from the two defeats.
When Taylor won the first round of the quarter-final, it looked like business as usual. Potkonen’s main contribution was a big right hand midway through, drawing encouragement as she exposed Taylor’s defence which appeared to present more gaps than usual.
The Finn was the aggressor for much of the fight but what damage was she doing? Taylor, by contrast, was happy to fight tactically on the back foot and pick her off with counter-punches. Potkonen won the second round, a fact that even the Irish camp didn’t dispute, but although she often landed the first blow in exchanges in the third and fourth rounds, it was Taylor’s shots that appeared the more decisive.
Boxing is about hitting and not being hit in return, a livid Antia said afterwards, but it is now clear that three scoring judges at ringside didn’t see the fight in quite the same way.
One of them scored it 39-37 in Taylor’s favour; one scored it for Potkonen by the same margin; and the third, Clemente Carrillo from Ecuador couldn’t split them and marked it down as a 38-38 draw.
Pushed to break the tie and send one through to the semi-finals and the other home, he went for Potkonen.
INPHO / Dan Sheridan
INPHO / Dan Sheridan / Dan Sheridan
“That fight wasn’t even close,” Bolger fumed. “You can add it up and it wasn’t close.
It was a shocking decision. That’s all I’m going to say about it.
Taylor was a little bit more measured in her comments but ultimately of the same opinion.
“I thought the second round she won for sure, but I thought the other three rounds I won.
“Then again,” she added, “they were probably close.”
Her performance couldn’t be pinned on any problems in preparation.
“I felt great going into the fight. I was well-prepared going into the fight. The first fight of every competition is always tough, just to get your rhythm and get into the competition.
“No, I can’t say that,” she said when asked if the long lead-in to the fight had a negative effect.
I was well prepared. The coaches around me were fantastic. I got plenty of spars over here. I was staying ready and sharp for this fight.
“I came over a bit later than the guys because I knew I was going to be in a little bit later and the preparation was perfect. It just didn’t happen for me.”
INPHO / Dan Sheridan
INPHO / Dan Sheridan / Dan Sheridan
In her heart-wrenching interview with RTÉ a few moments earlier, the emotion of the moment was written all over Taylor’s face, hardly able to put words on the disappointment.
Despite her best efforts, now was not the time for her to turn a cool analytical eye towards the ifs and buts and maybes of what had happened. That time will come, especially if, as indicated, she intends to return to the ring and carry on competing.
But speaking on the Second Captains podcast, Olympian and former world champion Andy Lee painted a slightly different picture based on a meeting with a tired Taylor about a fortnight before she flew out to Brazil.
When I was trying to say, ‘Be careful, don’t overtrain,’ I could see that she was trying to encourage me to say it more, that she was agreeing with me but she didn’t feel that she had the authority or that it wasn’t her place to say, ‘I want to take it easy.’
“That was my feeling. It’s only personal and I could be completely wrong but that was my feeling in the room.
“When I left and went home, my wife, who’d know Katie pretty well said, ‘How’s she doing?’ And the one word I said was ‘She looks tired.’”
That was never a criticism you would have levelled at Taylor while dad Pete was in her corner. His decision to step back from team late last year has only been indirectly addressed by Taylor and those around her, never fully explained.
Not that she owes anyone an explanation for the decision that was taken, but it’s becoming more and more difficult to dissociate from the loss of form that has seen her ship three unexpected defeats in the space of five months and lose her world, and now Olympic, crowns.
“In the midst of a disappointing year, I just want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the amazing support,” Taylor said on Monday night. ”I love you all.”
The old adage reminds us that everybody gets knocked down; champions get back up.
“I’m not finished yet, that’s for sure,” Taylor vowed.
No temporary setback, no matter how unexpected, no matter how hard to swallow, can keep this champion down.
What happened to Katie Taylor?
– Niall Kelly reports from Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro
WHAT HAPPENED TO Katie Taylor? Where do you even start?
With the judges, as coaches Zaur Antia and Eddie Bolger did?
With the preparations in the Irish camp?
With Pete, whose absence from his daughter’s corner has coincided with the worst run of results of her career?
The fairest place to start is with the legacy of a fighter who has already guaranteed her standing as one of Irish sport’s all-time greats, irrespective of what happened in the ring on Monday and what unfolds from this point forth.
We shouldn’t need reminding of a CV that deserves to be inscribed in gold: six European championships, five EU championships, five world championships, an Olympic gold medal and a deserved reputation as one of the most dominant boxers the amateur game has ever seen, male or female.
Katie Taylor was the first to admit that she should have comfortably beaten Mira Potkonen in the lightweight quarter-finals, where a win would have guaranteed the defending champion a second Olympic medal of some description.
“In real time, I thought I did do enough to win,” she said in the immediate aftermath, the shock starting to take hold.
“But I should be winning those fights a bit more convincingly. I’m not here to make excuses or anything.”
The Finnish veteran, who only took up competitive boxing at the age of 26 after the birth of her two children, has never posed a problem before. When they met in the EU Championships and the World Championships, Taylor was as comfortable as you would expect.
It speaks volumes that Potkonen was the opponent hand-picked to come to Ireland as part of Taylor’s homecoming tour after her London 2012 success. An invitation to fight in the Ballywaltrim Community Centre in Taylor’s native Bray was never going to be extended to anyone who might threaten a shock.
Potkonen arrived here arguably in the form of her life, having taken bronze — as Taylor did — at the world championships earlier this year. On the other hand, Taylor’s aura of invincibility had been pierced by her defeats against Yana Alekseevna and Estelle Mossely in April and May, and the surrender of the world title she had held since 2006.
The Finns sensed she was ripe for a shock. The sports section of the country’s largest daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, proclaimed her as “the shaky champion” in its front page splash on Monday morning.
The Irish camp took a very different view. “Class is permanent,” Bolger reminded us over the weekend when asked if there were any lingering effects from the two defeats.
When Taylor won the first round of the quarter-final, it looked like business as usual. Potkonen’s main contribution was a big right hand midway through, drawing encouragement as she exposed Taylor’s defence which appeared to present more gaps than usual.
The Finn was the aggressor for much of the fight but what damage was she doing? Taylor, by contrast, was happy to fight tactically on the back foot and pick her off with counter-punches. Potkonen won the second round, a fact that even the Irish camp didn’t dispute, but although she often landed the first blow in exchanges in the third and fourth rounds, it was Taylor’s shots that appeared the more decisive.
Boxing is about hitting and not being hit in return, a livid Antia said afterwards, but it is now clear that three scoring judges at ringside didn’t see the fight in quite the same way.
One of them scored it 39-37 in Taylor’s favour; one scored it for Potkonen by the same margin; and the third, Clemente Carrillo from Ecuador couldn’t split them and marked it down as a 38-38 draw.
Pushed to break the tie and send one through to the semi-finals and the other home, he went for Potkonen.
“That fight wasn’t even close,” Bolger fumed. “You can add it up and it wasn’t close.
Taylor was a little bit more measured in her comments but ultimately of the same opinion.
“I thought the second round she won for sure, but I thought the other three rounds I won.
“Then again,” she added, “they were probably close.”
Her performance couldn’t be pinned on any problems in preparation.
“I felt great going into the fight. I was well-prepared going into the fight. The first fight of every competition is always tough, just to get your rhythm and get into the competition.
“No, I can’t say that,” she said when asked if the long lead-in to the fight had a negative effect.
“I came over a bit later than the guys because I knew I was going to be in a little bit later and the preparation was perfect. It just didn’t happen for me.”
In her heart-wrenching interview with RTÉ a few moments earlier, the emotion of the moment was written all over Taylor’s face, hardly able to put words on the disappointment.
Despite her best efforts, now was not the time for her to turn a cool analytical eye towards the ifs and buts and maybes of what had happened. That time will come, especially if, as indicated, she intends to return to the ring and carry on competing.
But speaking on the Second Captains podcast, Olympian and former world champion Andy Lee painted a slightly different picture based on a meeting with a tired Taylor about a fortnight before she flew out to Brazil.
“That was my feeling. It’s only personal and I could be completely wrong but that was my feeling in the room.
“When I left and went home, my wife, who’d know Katie pretty well said, ‘How’s she doing?’ And the one word I said was ‘She looks tired.’”
That was never a criticism you would have levelled at Taylor while dad Pete was in her corner. His decision to step back from team late last year has only been indirectly addressed by Taylor and those around her, never fully explained.
Not that she owes anyone an explanation for the decision that was taken, but it’s becoming more and more difficult to dissociate from the loss of form that has seen her ship three unexpected defeats in the space of five months and lose her world, and now Olympic, crowns.
“In the midst of a disappointing year, I just want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the amazing support,” Taylor said on Monday night. ”I love you all.”
The old adage reminds us that everybody gets knocked down; champions get back up.
“I’m not finished yet, that’s for sure,” Taylor vowed.
No temporary setback, no matter how unexpected, no matter how hard to swallow, can keep this champion down.
‘She’s still number one to us’: Katie will get a warm welcome home in Bray, locals say
‘This is a surprise but not a total surprise’ – We got the view from Finland on Katie Taylor’s defeat
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Boxing Eddie Bolger Editor's picks Katie Taylor Mira Potkonen Olympics Pete Taylor Post-mortem Rio 2016 Zaur Antia