AFLW star Harris wins boxing bout

Wednesday, 14 August 2019:

CHRISTINA BERNARDI of the Magpies and TAYLA HARRIS of the Blues in action during the 2018 AFLW match between the Carlton Blues and the Collingwood Magpies at Ikon Park in Melbourne, Australia.
CHRISTINA BERNARDI of the Magpies and TAYLA HARRIS of the Blues in action during the 2018 AFLW match between the Carlton Blues and the Collingwood Magpies at Ikon Park in Melbourne, Australia.


AFLW Star Tayla Harris produced a decisive second-round onslaught and showed more ruthlessness to extend her unbeaten professional boxing record to six fights on Wednesday.

Harris scored a second round TKO over professional debutante and media personality Renee Gartner on the undercard of the Tim Tszyu-Dwight Ritchie fight in Sydney.

It was her first KO as she improved her record to 5-0-1 (1 KO).

After a quiet opening round in which there was little action apart from a couple of right hand shots by Harris, the dual sports star opened up in the second.

Garner did land one punch but got caught herself and Harris followed up with a barrage of blows, prompting the stoppage from referee Les Fear.

"When someone is affected by a punch, exhausted you've got to act on it and I recognised an opportunity," Harris said.

"Renee turned her back around and kept going. Previously I might have noticed a turn and thought 'I'll let her straighten up', but I learnt that boxing isn't about that.

"If you give them a chance they will take it, so iIdidn't let her have a chance."

It was Harris's first fight since the end of the AFLW season and the iconic picture of her athleticism which led to some people trolling her online.

A number of Harris's Carlton teammates flew to Sydney to watch the fight .

The only blemish on her record is a draw for the Australian middleweight title last year and she would jump at the chance to win the national crown.

"I'd love that to be there. I'm sure it will be there and I'll take it as soon as it comes up, whenever it is," she said.

Also on the undercard, Australians Steven Gago and Rocky Jerkic lost unanimous ten round points decisions to world-ranked Kazakh fighters in bouts for WBO, IBF and WBA regional titles.

Gago was beaten by Nursultan Zhanbayev despite the foreign fighter being penalised three points for low blows.

Jerkic also came up short on the judges' scorecards in a fight against Aidos Yerbossynuly.






AAP