IPSWICH boxer Taylah Gentzen has cemented her rising-star status on one of the biggest boxing stages in Australia, delivering a composed and clinical performance to defeat Jess Adams at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Opening a stacked national card featuring some of the sport\u2019s biggest names, including Jai Opetaia and Justis Huni, Gentzen said the scale of the event only fuelled her hunger.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was unreal,\u201d she said. \u201cPhysically I took no damage, and mentally I\u2019m proud of the performance and excited to see what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n
The victory moves Gentzen to 8-1 as a professional, strengthening her position inside the WBA\u2019s top five and IBF\u2019s top 10, and adding momentum to what has already been a breakthrough year.<\/p>\n
Adams was no stranger to Gentzen \u2013 the pair sparred several years ago \u2013 but the Ipswich talent refused to rely on old rounds or past experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cFighters evolve, so I didn\u2019t rely on anything from the past,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew she\u2019d be extremely fit and that she can punch. The plan was simple: box smart, control the distance, hit and not get hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gentzen executed that plan with discipline, dictating range early and landing clean shots throughout the opening rounds. A sharp right hand in the first 15 seconds visibly rocked Adams.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt in control for about 90 per cent of the fight,\u201d she said. \u201cJess is tough as nails \u2013 she came back strong in the fifth and started closing the distance, which forced me to work more on the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
She credits much of that sharpness to her preparation under head coach Jessica Cashman and corner expert Corey O\u2019Connell at Ipswich City Boxing.<\/p>\n
\u201cJess had me drilling footwork, timing, distance control and straight punches,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s an incredible coach who builds fighters from the ground up. Corey has world champion experience and is unbelievable in the corner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Mark Evans from Impact Boxing as cutman and young gun Braydon Reed in the corner, I truly had the best team in the world behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n
With her ranking climbing and her profile expanding, Gentzen knows the business of professional boxing is shifting in her favour.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a domestic fight on a huge platform,\u201d she said. \u201cThe more people who see you and recognise your name, the bigger the opportunities get.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis win should move me up in the rankings and keep building my momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n
That momentum comes at a crucial time, with Commonwealth Games trials only six weeks away.<\/p>\n
Gentzen plans a short reset before launching into a Christmas training block.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m taking a few days to rest, eat whatever I want, and spend quality time with my family,\u201d she said. \u201cThen it\u2019s straight back into the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IPSWICH boxer Taylah Gentzen has cemented her rising-star status on one of the biggest boxing stages in Australia,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-340933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}