Katie Taylor will have no fear of finding herself on the wrong end of a home-town verdict when she faces Azerbaijan’s Yana Alekseevna in the women’s lightweight semi-finals at the European Games in Baku.
Ireland’s Olympic and five-time world champion was in imperious form as she young Swede Ida Lundblad on Wednesday to guarantee she will add yet another medal to her illustrious collection.
And Taylor insists the prospect of facing a fighter from a buoyant home nation squad will not faze her as she has plenty of experience of winning important bouts far from home.
Taylor said: “I’ve boxed many people in their own backyard plenty of times – in China I boxed a Chinese girl in the final of the world championships and I’ve boxed Russians before in their home nation as well.
“I don’t really change much, there’s not much I can do about the judging in front of a home crowd. I go into every fight trying to win as easy as I can. I’m not going to change anything really,
“She’s very clever and these are the kind of fights that I love to box – such a big fight against the home nation. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Teenager Lundblad was no pushover but Taylor produced four rounds of such sustained quality that the Swede was left applauding her opponent at the end of the bout.