KELLIE HARRINGTON WILL seek to defend her Olympic title on Tuesday after producing a masterclass to beat Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira in their 60kg semi-final.
Harrington broadly outclassed the elite South American en route to a 4-1 split-decision victory.
The pair last met in the Tokyo Olympic final of 2021 but three years later, the 34-year-old Harrington was even more impressive as she tamed the ferocious Ferreira and finished the stronger of the two boxers.
Working behind her pinpoint jab, Harrington won the first round on four of the five judges’ scorecards. Ferreira found more success of her own in the second, landing a handful of power shots and winning the round on three cards.
Heading into the third and final round of an absorbing, exhilarating contest, two judges had Harrington up, one had Ferreira up and two saw the bout level.
Harrington needed to swing just one of those latter two judges to book her return to the Olympic final but she instead turned on the style and swept it across the board.
It was an extraordinary performance by the Dubliner against the second best lightweight of their era. Ferreira, who is also a world champion in the professional ranks, had spoken for three years about gaining revenge for the Tokyo final but there was instead a repeat result in this eagerly anticipated rematch.
Harrington will seek to repeat her Olympic success on Tuesday when she meets 2016 world champion and 2022 Asian champ Yang Wenlu of China in their 60kg decider. But it will also be a revenge bout of sorts for Harrington, who lost to Yang in that 2016 world final.
The first round of tonight’s Olympic semi saw Harrington begin by regularly popping Ferreira’s head back with her orthodox jab, controlling the opening minute. Ferreira, though, a powerful puncher, roared into life with a couple of thudding right hands upstairs.
Harrington, whose movement was a constant problem for the more flat-footed Brazilian, returned the favour with a one-two before returning to her jab. She caught Ferreira with a peach of a right uppercut at the halfway point of the round before switching to southpaw and pinging her opponent with a backhand left.
A chorus of ‘Olé Olé Olé’ broke out at the North Paris Arena as Ferreira enjoyed a mini spell of success but Harrington punctuated a strong Irish round with a peach of a left hand down the pipe before the bell. Harrington won the round 4-1 and so led 10-9 on four of the five judges’ scorecards, with Ferreira up 10-9 on the other.
There was an increased urgency to Ferreira to start the second round as she charged towards Harrington with malicious intent.
It was a more untidy round in which the pure boxing quality — like a picture perfect one-two on the spin from an orthodox stance — came from Harrington but two judges valued Ferreira’s increased aggression. Harrington’s southpaw left was again potent while Ferreira enjoyed the better of a couple of phonebooth exchanges at centre-ring. A 3-2 round in Ferreira’s favour left the scores at 20-18 to Harrington x2, 19-19 x2, and 20-18 to Ferreira x1.
Harrington just needed to gain favour with one of the two judges who had the bout level, whereas Ferreira had to convince them both.
The Irish corner warned Harrington to get back behind her jab. She listened. A masterful three minutes of boxing followed as Harrington picked off a desperate Ferreira at will.
With the seconds ticking away, Ferreira began to run low on gas and Harrington kept her foot on the accelerator, smiling her way through a round that was as much an expression of art as it was sport.
At the final bell, Harrington knew she was on her way to another Olympic final. She took the last round in the eyes of all five judges to leave final scores of 30-27 x2, 29-28 x2 and 28-29.
