Katie Taylor dominates Anahi Sanchez to land WBA lightweight title
Irish puncher claims vacant belt with a powerful display in Cardiff to continue her rise
KATIE TAYLOR won her first world title in just her seventh professional fight by battering Anahi Sanchez to a points victory.
Sanchez lost her WBA lightweight belt on Friday when she weighed in too heavy so it was on a plate for the Irish sensation.
The newly crowned Queen said: "It means more than words can express for me. It's a dream come true.
"It was a very, very tough fight. I got wild at times and left myself wide open occasionally, it was a very tough fight.
"This is the start, I would love to unify these belts.
";I would just also like to thank my team and all the support."
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Sanchez's extra weight did not translate into punch power as Taylor made light work of the brave Argentinian.
The first 30 seconds were blistering, as if Taylor had left her engine on in the Cardiff car park and had to get away a bit lively.
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Sanchez showed a solid chin by taking the flurry of early punches, demonstrating a clear step up in class for Taylor who would have wiped out her six previous opponents with the same shots.
But there was no escaping Taylor in the second when she collapsed the South American with a left to the body.
All the air in Sanchez’s lungs was knocked clean out of her and she showed phenomenal courage to continue when everyone expected her to bow out.
And she proved the loss of her belt had not dented her pride as she survived another beating in the third round.
She even raced eagerly back for more and had the audacity to tag Taylor with a couple of punches of her own.
A left hook from Taylor at the start of round four would have stunned an elephant but Sanchez barely blinked.
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And it was the same savage story in the fifth when Taylor delivered punches in bunches could not break the will of her gutsy rival.
Not content with punching each other senseless, there were painful head clashes to add to the drama and injury list.
Round 10, the final portion, was another war with head-butts and punches swapped with startling generosity.
There were audible gasps at the shots Sanchez swallowed. And when the bell came there was a sense of relief that her pasting was over and Taylor was crowned with a perfect 99-90 scorecard.