Castlerea boxer secures opening round win at World Championships
Lisa O'Rourke started her World Championship campaign with a second round stoppage win.
Castlerea’s Lisa O’Rourke secured a victory in her Last 16 bout at the World Championships, held in Serbia.
She secured a second round stoppage victory after overwhelming her Azerbaijan opponent Emili Rzayeva.
This is a welcome victory for Team Ireland after a challenging start to the tournament for the team.
O’Rourke dominated the opening round and even though her southpaw opponent landed two neat left hand shots, the Castlerea boxer soon took over.
Her work in the clinch made Rzaveya uncomfortable and once O’Rourke landed a cracking left hook and straight right hand towards the end of round one, this fight was only heading one way.
After a flurry of punches, the referee issued the Azerbaijani fighter with a standing eight count.
Although she survived until the bell, O’Rourke had claimed the opening round on all five judges scorecards, with one scoring the round 10-8 in the Irish fighter's favour.
The Castlerea boxer unleashed another flurry at the start of the second round that saw the referee waive the contest off.
Lisa will face the third seed from Morocco tomorrow in the quarter finals knowing that a win would guarantee her a medal.
