Kellie Harrington received a timely reminder, in an Olympic year, that she can take nothing for granted inside the boxing ring.
The Olympic champion secured safe passage into the semi-finals of the European Championships in Belgrade, which will guarantee the Dubliner a medal, thanks to her victory over Turkey's Ozer Gizem in their lightweight last-eight bout.
But Harrington was forced to really kick into gear in the second round of the contest having seen the first barely go in her favour, with two of the five judges scoring the round to her opponent.
It was an under-appreciation of the skillset of the 2018 world champion in truth, as Harrington glided her way through the first three minutes, boxing off the back foot, almost in slow motion at times, while picking off the aggressive Gizem throughout.
But it was boxer turned fighter in the opening seconds of the second as Harrington looked more akin to compatriot Katie Taylor in Madison Square Garden as she ripped into her Turkish opponent with a relentless flurry of punches.
Gizem, to her credit, embraced the battle and stood strong, however, she was caught with a big left hand, which resulted in a standing count, leaving the judges little option but to hand the round to Harrington who maintained the front-foot approach until the bell.
A 5:0 round allowed Harrington to revert to type somewhat in the final stanza as she again boxed beautifully off the back foot, while ensuring to offer plenty of eyecatching shots for the judges.
And yet there was a delay with the final result as Harrington had to wait a touch longer than expected to get the verdict, eventually being awarded a 5:2 split decision, suggesting that the bout had been reviewed before being decided.
Fellow Olympian, Aoife O'Rourke, cruised through to the semi-finals with a commanding performance over Hungary’s Veronika Nakota in the middleweight division.
Comfortable on the scorecards for O’Rourke, however, the Roscommon boxer had to be strong and sturdy throughout as she went toe-to-toe with her tough, if limited, opponent.
O’Rourke took on the challenge of Nakota head on, as the Hungarian fighter looked to brawl from the opening exchanges and was more than happy to take a punch in order to throw one.
But the two-time European champion showed her class as she engaged with Nakota before creating space to unleash combination after combination with real precision throughout the contest.
By the end of the second round, Nakota was blowing hard and hanging on a touch in anticipation of the bell with O’Rourke wrapping up the contest – barring a last-round stoppage – with a perfect score from the judges for the opening six minutes.
O’Rourke could have steered clear of trouble in the final round as Nakota found her second wind and emptied the tank in that opening minute, but the Galway-based fighter, who boxes out of the Olympic Boxing Club, was happy to trade, confident of sealing the victory.
And it did come, on a unanimous decision, with perhaps the only concern for O’Rourke being the fact that she took some unnecessary blows in that third stanza, which was noted on the scorecards as one of the judges felt Nakota got the better of her in the final round.
Shannon Sweeney boxed her way to a European medal with a comprehensive victory over Spain’s Laura Fuertes Fernandez.
Fighting in the 50kg light flyweight division, Sweeney took control of the bout from the opening exchanges, defending well against her come-forward opponent, while impressing the judges with a stylish back-foot performance.
Winning the first round on all five judges’ scorecards without really troubling the Spanish boxer, Sweeney then stepped up a level in the second and really started to dominate the contest, landing some big right hands throughout with her slick southpaw stance.
Sweeney even had time to showboat a little as the round finished, dropping her hands with confidence to pick the shots to secure another 10:9 round across the board.
Fernandez came out swinging in the final round as she needed a stoppage to advance, and while Sweeney was happy to stick and trade for the final minutes, she also landed the scoring shots, which handed her a unanimous 30:27 win on all scorecards.
Sweeney is next out in Friday’s semi-finals where she will be looking to upgrade the bronze to either gold or silver by making it into the division decider.
Niamh Fay is also set for a place on the podium as she received a walkover in the quarter-finals to secure a bronze medal at least in the Serbia-hosted elite championships.
Lisa O'Rourke left it all in the ring, however, she was unable to convince the judges as she lost by a very narrow 4:3 split decision in her light middleweight quarter-final.
A tough contest to score, in truth, as she went head to head with Jessica Triebelova from Slovakia, who was handed the opening round by all judges, perhaps just showing the more controlled boxing as O’Rourke threw a lot but missed the target too many times.
The relentless O’Rourke came flying back in the second round to take it 4:1, which set it up for a barnstorming finish to the contest.
Triebelova started the round with some well-timed shots, however, the 2022 world champion maintained her aggressive approach right to the bell and appeared to really trouble her opponent inside the final minute.
In the end, it went to a bout review, to include the additional two judges for close contests, and the decision went the way of Triebelova who progresses to the semi-finals.
