Middleweight (69-75 kilograms), Women

Part of the story of the middleweight boxing division was about the fighters who were not in Tokyo. Double Olympic champion Claressa Shields had graduated to the professional ranks and already established herself as the supreme force in that version of the sport. This prompted Christina Hammer, the German whose 10-year reign as professional world champion Shields had ended, to make the opposite journey and attempt a late career switch to “amateur” boxing. Sadly, the cancellation of the final global qualifier ended Hammer’s dreams before they could begin to take shape.

Since 2016 two women had emerged as the best middleweights in the world. Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands had twice been European champion, a regular medallist at World Championship level and silver medallist behind Shields in Rio, while Lauren Price of Great Britain had pushed the Dutchwoman in a number of championships before 2019. In 2019 Price beat Fontijn in the final of the European Games before the two staged a memorable battle later in the year at the World Championship. Fontijn was originally awarded the fight but after an appeal, the bout review jury controversially decided to re-score it in favour of Price. In Tokyo, the two were seeded to meet in the semi-finals.

To no one’s surprise Price-Fontijn turned out to be another closely fought bout. Fontijn started well and, after Price was deducted a point for holding in round two, it appeared that the Dutch boxer was going to extract her revenge for the world final. Price rallied to take the second round and the deciding third to win by the slim margin of 3-2 from the judges.

In the final, Price would meet her predecessor at World Champion, the tall Chinese fighter Li Qian. Li had won world title in 2018 but then had not been selected for the 2019 Worlds. From the start Price used her speed and agility to great effect, jabbing away and then moving out of distance of any counter punching. She took the first two rounds then landed some punches as the fight came towards its end.

Price had begun as a footballer, playing for Wales in international football whilst maintaining a side career as a World Champion kickboxer. She had also been a part of the British developmental taekwondo squad before concentrating on boxing.