Adams includes homage to hero Ali in emphatic win

The 29-year-old flyweight from Leeds was one of three Britons in action yesterday on a historic occasion for women’s boxing in the Olympics.

By the end of the day, Adams was the last girl standing after surprise defeats for Savannah Marshall and Natasha Jonas, the latter after a pulsating contest with Ireland’s Katie Taylor.

Adams’s progress was serene by comparison, a 16-7 points win over Stoyka Petrova of Bulgaria which was for more convincing than the scoreline suggests.

She is guaranteed at least a bronze, even if she loses tomorrow’s semi-final to Mery Kom of India, a five-time former world champion.

History is hers as Britain’s first medallist in women’s Olympic boxing, but if she wins the title on Thursday, the future will be paved with gold. For there is no Olympic sport like boxing to elevate its champions to superstardom.

The list of Olympians who have cashed in is long and distinguished.

Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lennox Lewis, Amir Khan.

There are also the not-so distinguished, Audley Harrison and James DeGale springing to mind.

But if you recognise those names then that bolsters the point.

Olympic boxing champions in this country become box office names, no matter what follows.

And Adams has all the qualities to prosper after London 2012, whether that be her background in doing walk-on parts in Emmerdale and Coronation Street, or her cherubic smile and affable nature.

There is no professional women’s boxing game to speak of, so staying on to Rio in 2016 is her only real option in the sport she has loved since she shadow-boxed in front of the television as her father watched the great fighters.

Ali and Leonard were her heroes. She studied the latter because he was nimble like herself, and Ali because...well, because he is Muhammad Ali.

“I had to get an Ali shuffle in there, it had to be done,” said Adams, who entertained a raucous crowd in the ExCel Arena with her aggressive style

“I’ve watched so many of his fights and videos and I thought I had to stick a cheeky one in there.

“I was enjoying every moment of it, like I said I would. It’s a once in a lifetime experience, just suck up the atmosphere and enjoy every minute. The crowd and the cheering for all the boxers has been marvellous.”

It was an aggressive destruction of Petrova by Adams, who dominated the centre of the ring and went after her opponent from the first bell of this 4 x 2-minute round contest in the 48kg-51kg category.

Left-right combinations had Petrova reeling in every round while Adams’s body shots also found their range.

She was entertaining the crowd with a number of landed blows, but not the judges who only had her ahead by 5-3 at the mid-point.

Undeterred, she stuck to her philosophy and kept chasing Petrova, pulling away on points in the third and sealing her progress in the final round. So to tomorrow’s semi-final. If progress through the Olympic competition has been relatively straightforward with a bye and a comfortable win earning her at least a bronze, then her path to gold is blocked by two women who have eight world titles between them.

India’s Mery Kom has won it five times, and erred on the side of unscrupulous in her quarter-final defeat of Maroua Rahali.

Kom was guilty of a rabbit punch (to the back of the head) and punching her opponent after the bell had rung.

Beat her and Adams’s opponent in Thursday’s final is likely to be three-time world champion Ren Cancan, of China, who defeated Adams in the world championship final earlier this year. But Adams had beaten Cancan in Bulgaria before then, and although her target this week is gold, she is focused on Kom in the semi-final.

“Yes, I’ve got the bronze medal in my back pocket, but Mery Kom is a good opponent, she’s a five-time world champion and you’ve got to be special to do that. I just hope I’ve got that little bit extra,” said Adams.

“I beat her in the worlds this year by a couple of points.

It’s going to be a close match, a tough match, and I’m just going to stay focused, not think about the victory too much because she’ll have improved and worked on things. I’ll take it as it comes.”

The elimination of world champion Marshall, at the hands of Marina Volnova of Kazakhstan, was a big shock.

Marshall lacked a little timing in the early stages against the former world silver medallist, who lunged in with right hands and had some success in knocking the Hartlepool fighter out of her rhythm.

The cagey, compact Volnova was a tough character and Marshall struggled to adapt.

Marshall, left, was distraught after the loss but later composed herself to say: “I have to credit my opponent who made it very difficult for me to box my normal fight, and all I can do is say sorry to all the coaches and support staff who have done everything they can to get me here.”

[email protected]