Katie Taylor has retained her status as undisputed lightweight champion of the world, defeating Karen Carabajal in convincing manner in London this evening.
The Irishwoman entered the bout as the heavy favourite, with her opponent coming in as a relative unknown. She had not faced any notable opponents up to this point in her career, although the 31-year old did boast a 19-0 professional record. That sense of mystery could well have worked to her advantage, although it soon became clear that she was facing a superior fighter.
Katie Taylor was in charge right from the outset. Her opponent looked to push the pace a bit in the opening exchanges, but the champion picked her off with jabs as she left the door open.
Carabajal found it difficult to connect on her punches, lacking the hand speed to trouble her opponent.
In contrast, Taylor's footwork was excellent and she continued to pick off the challenger with some excellent shots.
Carabajal was doing her best to make it a brawl, getting in close to Taylor whenever the opportunity presented itself. Still, it was the Wicklow woman that continued to land the better of the shots during such exchanges.
WOW 🔥#TaylorCarabajal pic.twitter.com/skAm6s7HVW
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) October 29, 2022
It was clear that the Argentine fighter was beginning to slow down somewhat as we got to the middle rounds of the fight having thrown far more punches up to that point with little success.
Taylor was now starting to control the pace of the bout.
Carbajal came out swinging in the last couple of rounds as she knew a knockout was her only chance of securing the win, but she remained second best. Katie Taylor held the centre of the ring and opened a sizeable cut on her opponent's right eyebrow after a clash of heads in the ninth round, instigated by the South American during some wild shots.
After comfortably seeing out the final round, there would be little doubt about the decision. Taylor retained her belt after winning unanimously on all three judge's scorecards.
Taylor will now have her sights set on bigger fights. This bout was clearly a placeholder while she bided her time to face a more difficult opponent.
Discussions took place about a rematch against Amanda Serrano in Croke Park, and while it could not be sorted for this month, there is an expectation that they will attempt to agree a deal to make sure it happens in 2023.
That would be a dream come true for the Bray Woman, who has yet to fight in front of a home crowd during her time in the professional ranks.
It would be incredible to see her defend her world titles in Dublin, so hopefully such an occasion is just around the corner.
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