It was the fight that cemented the place of women’s boxing on a global scale.
A sold-out crowd of 10,000 people packed into London’s Excel Boxing Arena to watch Ireland’s great Olympic hope Katie Taylor take on home favourite Natasha Jonas in the lightweight quarter-final.
Looking back now the first thing that hits you is still the noise. Everyone knows the stories about it breaking records for decibel levels recorded at the games, but even now it’s astonishing just how loud and enthusiastic the crowd was, with commentators really struggling to make themselves heard.
Taylor walked out first to the roars of the frantically enthusiastic crowd, which for the first time at the London Games, outnumbered the home support and was more vocal in their support of the Irish fighter than Team GB’s Jonas.
With none of the pyrotechnics or fanfare of the professional game, the two fighters had little time to soak up the deafening atmosphere and were quickly sizing each other up as the bell for the first round went.
Taylor, in all red, was slightly the more mobile of the two fighters in the opening exchanges and took the fight to Jonas in the opening round.
Showing the kind of impressive footwork that has helped to bring her so many world titles, Taylor connected with some powerful early shots while Jonas struggled to find her ranger and hit fresh air more often than her opponent.
A rapid flurry of punches to the head midway through the round underlined Taylor’s early dominance and although Jonas did manage to tag her with a powerful left on the counter, the Bray fighter went to her corner leading 5-2 as the chants of Olé Olé boomed around the arena.
Jonas looked shook as she took her seat in the corner but to her credit came roaring back in the second round and for a short spell dominated affairs.
The two went toe-to-toe trading blows in the corner as Taylor got dragged into a brawl that she came off second-best in. A more aggressive Jonas was working well behind her left jab and landing scoring blows as Taylor struggled with the awkward angled punches that the Liverpool fighter was throwing.
A slip from Taylor gave her the chance to regroup and she managed to slow the pace of the fight with two powerful body shots as she regained control and again began to dictate things.
The judges scored the round level at 5-5 which was perhaps slightly generous for Taylor but regardless she turned on the style in the third round and started to really lay on the punishment.
Perhaps aware that the fight was now in the balance the Bray boxer came storming out in the third, all aggression and precision as she mixed things up with her shot selection and never gave Jonas a chance to settle.
A powerful flurry from Taylor ended with a shuddering right that blasted through Jonas’ increasingly ragged looking defence and caught her square on the jaw, forcing the Liverpool fighter into taking a standing count.
In hindsight, that was the moment that much of the fight appeared to go out of Jonas. She sagged visibly as the referee made his count as she started to look tired. Taylor’s punches were now landing more often than not and although Jonas was still having limited joy with her left jab, the Irish woman was scoring freely and took the round 9-4.
As the bell went fresh and confident looking Taylor stood defiantly in her corner eyeing her opponent, who was slumped in her stool, across the ring.
The fourth and final round was the icing on the cake for Katie. Much of the fight had been drained from Jonas who kept throwing punches but wasn’t able to find the power or precision she showed in the second round.
Taylor was blocking and swatting aside what little Jonas could muster and rocking her opponent as she seemingly scored at will on the counter as she bounced in and out range with the English fighter now telegraphing her punches.
The fight was already over as a contest when Jonas was forced to take her second standing count of the afternoon thanks to a wicked right hook with 30 seconds to go and Taylor pressed home her advantage to win the final round 7-4.
The Irish crowd roared their approval as the final bell went and as the chants of ‘Katie, Katie’ echoed out, Taylor’s hand was raised in victory.
While both fighters have been at pains to play down the significance of their meetings as amateurs in the build-up to Saturday’s bout, it’s hard to imagine that there won’t be some part of their 2012 meeting that plays out in the memories of the two.
The biggest shame however is the fact that Taylor and Jonas will be fighting in an empty arena. Their last meeting was a true turning point for the growth of women’s boxing and another packed stadium full of passionate fans cheering them on is the least that these two trailblazers deserve.
