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15th Apr 2016

Katie Taylor suffered her first loss in the ring in five years today

Conor Heneghan

We’re sure she’ll bounce back.

Katie Taylor suffered a surprise loss to Yana Alekseevna of Azerbaijan in the semi-final of an Olympic qualifying tournament in Turkey on Friday morning.

Alekseevna won the fight by a unanimous decision (39-37 on the cards of all three judges), ending Taylor’s run of 62 consecutive victories dating back five years.

It was Taylor’s first defeat since a highly controversial loss to Denista Eliseeva at a multi-nations tournament in Eliseeva’s home country of Bulgaria in 2011.

Taylor, a gold medallist at the London Olympics in 2012, has not yet secured her place at this year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, although the five-time world champion can still do so by reaching the semi-finals of the World Championships in Astana later this year.