Katie Taylor’s reign on the ropes but Kellie Harrington offers fresh hope for Irish boxing

IRELAND could be set to have a new female boxing star as the rise of Kellie Harrington has coincided with a dip in form for Katie Taylor.

On Thursday, five-time world champion Taylor suffered her second loss in six weeks having previously gone five years unbeaten.

Thankfully, the Bray lightweight had already secured her spot at Rio 2016 by reaching the semi-finals of the World Championships in Astana, but Estelle Mossely of France won a split decision over Taylor in the last four.

Taylor will now look to regain her composure ahead of defending her 60kg lightweight in Rio, but Ireland could have a new queen of the ring in Dubliner Harrington.

The 26-year-old made a huge impression in the light-welterweight division, embarking on a run to the final in her first World Championships before settling for a silver medal, but she qualified for the Olympics along the way.

China’s Wenlu Yang won a majority decision over Harrington, but her ability to switch from orthodox to southpaw at will made her a nightmare for her previous opponents in Kazakhstan.

"It was absolutely fantastic,” she told RTÉ Sport, who televised her fight. “It was a great feeling, being in there with the top-class boxers in the world.

"Now I know I'm up there and all I have to do is keep pushing. Never give up. I don't think I'm the best, I know I'm the best. We're going to do some more work and next time it will be gold I take home."

Meanwhile, a dejected Taylor took defeat gracefully, and refused to be drawn on suggestions that the scorecards were perhaps harsh on the Wicklow native.

“I didn’t really know what way it was going, you don’t get any scores in between rounds,” she said. “We thought that things were going to plan. We’ll have to look back at the video and see what went wrong.

“I was planning to come over here and make history by becoming a six-time world champion but unfortunately it didn’t happen for me.”