Adams claims historic gold

Nicola Adams sealed her golden moment with an Ali shuffle as she overwhelmed China’s double world champion Ren Cancan 16-7 to be crowned the first-ever Olympic women’s Boxing champion at ExCeL. Adams dropped Ren in the second round on her way to a comprehensive Fly Weight victory against an opponent who had beaten her in each of the previous two World Championships finals. Adams made a superb start, producing much the cleaner work in the opening round, firing home a quick combination and a left hook and making it difficult for Ren to find her range as she bounced in and out of reach. A beautiful straight left followed by a right hook towards the end of the round helped Adams into a deserved 4-2 lead, but it was far from over against the Chinese champion who stormed out for the second and landed a big right hand in a furious flurry of action. Adams was completely unfazed, landing with a beautiful countering left, then a right as she bullied the Chinese fighter onto the ropes and unleashed a left followed by a chopping right which dumped Ren to the canvas for a count. It was a staggering round by Adams, who took a 9-4 lead into the second half of the contest, but will have known to stay on her guard against an opponent who has dominated at the top of her division for four years. In a quieter third, Adams proved a master at keeping Ren out of range, darting in to score with crisp counters, and at the end of the third the gold medal was almost hers after establishing a colossal 14-5 lead. Adams continued to dominate the final round, moving around the outskirts of the ring and landing counters seemingly at will, celebrating with an Ali shuffle in the final 10 seconds to round off a stunning win.