Katie Taylor scores scintillating stoppage in American debut

Katie Taylor made a stunning American debut tonight in New York city.

The Wicklow lightweight was in action on the Mikey Garcia v Adrien Broner undercard at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn and scored an impressive stoppage victory that had the Showtime commentators purring.

Following difficulties in finding an opponent, Texan Jasmine Clarkson was drafted in on a few days notice and was duly put away in three rounds.

The Lone Star fighter had previously gone the distance with three world title challengers and indeed had never been stopped – but was vastly overmatched against the 2012 Olympic gold medalist and pulled out after six minutes of being dominated.

A cagey, one-sided opener saw Taylor probe the southpaw Clarkson with sharp shots as the American retreated into her shell immediately.

The fight opened up at the start of the second as Taylor began to reign in combos. Clarkson tried to fire back with some cuffing shots but was being completely overwhelmed.

Taylor started to mix in work to the body in the third round as Clarkson’s attacking threat became non-existent and the fight was mercifully called at the end of the stanza.

The inside-the-distance win sees Taylor improve her perfect pro record to 6(4)-0 as she bears down on a world title fight. The brave but outgunned Clarkson drops to 4(0)-9(1).