Indian superwoman MC Mary Kom added another milestone in her list of achievements in 18 years of glorious career by winning her record sixth World Championship Gold medal here at KD Jadhav Stadium in Delhi on Saturday.
Fighting in blue, 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist and mother of three, ‘Magnificent Mary’ outshines her Ukranian Hanna Okhota by a unanimous decision of 5-0 (27-30, 28-29, 28-29, 27-30, 27-30) in the first place bout of light flyweight 48kg category.
Mary took control of the bout as soon as the starting bell rung.
And with all her experience, she was clearly better of her opponent whom she had beaten previously at the Silesian international boxing championships in Poland in September.
With this win in front of a jam-packed home crowd cheering for their superstar, she became the most successful pugilist in the history of Women’s World Boxing Championships.
35-year old Mary, who won her last World title eight years back at Bridgetown, Barbados in 2010 was in great touch during this entire tourney and has also won all her previous bouts en route to final by the same identical margin to stay perfect throughout.
The mother of three children now has an incredible six Gold and one Silver in the World Championships.
Before this, she was tied with Ireland’s Katie Taylor (five Gold and a Bronze) on the number of medals won by a woman.
London Olympic champion, Taylor now plies her trade in the professional circuit.
With this Gold, ‘Magnificent Mary’ also matched Cuban men’s legend Felix Savon as the joint most successful pugilist (men and women) in the World Championships history.
Savon, who also won three Olympic Gold medals during his illustrious career, won six Gold and one Silver in heavyweight category at the World Championships between 1986 and 1997.
Mary Kom won Silver in the inaugural edition at Scranton in 2001 and then went on to win Gold each in the next five consecutive editions -- 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
Overwhelmed by the crowd support that gathered in huge number, emotional Mary Kom broke down after coming out the ring as she went around to greet the packed stadium and the officials.
Wrapped in the tri-color, she thanked her fans for their "unstinted" support.
"I am a little bit emotional. There is no (48kg) weight category in the Olympic Games. Because of your love and support, I feel I will be able to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Four years ago, I was not able to qualify for Rio. I am still suffering from that," she said.
"Thank you for your love and support. I don’t have anything to give except for a Gold in the country. I know it will be a bit difficult for me to win a Gold in Tokyo as I will have to fight in 51kg."
Mary Kom claimed a Bronze at the 2012 London Games fighting after in 51kg category.
"... Because of their reach, the taller boxers (who will be in 51kg) will have an advantage. But I am still dreaming about winning the gold in 2020 Olympics."