Olympics boxing: Nicola Adams guarantees silver with semis win

Great Britain's Nicola Adams secured at least a silver medal by reaching the final of the women's flyweight competition with victory over Mary Kom.

Adams, 29, could become the first woman to win Olympic boxing gold when she fights three-time world champion Ren Cancan on Thursday.

The Leeds fighter was always on top against Indian legend Kom, outpointing the five-time world champion 11-6.

The GB boxing team are assured five medals already.

Light-welterweight Tom Stalker could add to that tally on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, Irish phenomenon Katie Taylor, a four-time world and five-time European champion, outclassed Mavzuna Chorieva of Tajikistan 17-9 to reach the final of the lightweight competition.

"Words can't express how I'm feeling right now," said Adams. "To reach an Olympic final, I've dreamt of this since I was 12 years old, I'm really happy.

"She [Kom] is a five-time world champion and you have got to be special to do that. It shows how much I've improved by beating her. Against Ren, I'll do everything the same and treat it like a normal tournament."

Adams, who beat Kom at this year's World Championships to qualify for the Olympics, guaranteed a medal with an impressive win over Stoyka Petrova in her first fight.

Against Kom, she started where she left off, looking very relaxed as she entered the ring and taking control of proceedings from the opening bell.

Bouncing in and out of range and boxing behind her jab, Adams took a 3-1 lead after round one as it became apparent that Kom, whose world titles were won at a lower weight, was going to have problems.

In the second, Adams landed two thudding uppercuts while continuing to box beautifully off the back foot. At the end of the third, she led 8-4.

With the result already a formality, Adams coasted the last two minutes to secure a lop-sided victory and seal a date with arch rival Ren, who beat Adams in the finals of the 2010 and 2012 World Championships.

China's Ren overcame American Marlen Esparza 10-8, although the score was somewhat deceptive as she never really had to extend herself.

Adams's final takes place at 16:30 BST on Thursday, followed by Taylor in the lightweight final and the women's middleweight final.

Taylor beat Liverpool's Natasha Jonas in a classic quarter-final on Monday and she brought the house down again in winning her semi-final.

A raucous Irish contingent roared Taylor's every punch and the native of Bray, County Wicklow did not disappoint, looking seemingly unbeatable.

Taylor will fight Sofya Ochigava in the final after the Russian second seed beat Brazil's Adriana Araujo 17-11.

In the middleweight division, Claressa Shields kept American hopes of a gold medal alive with a convincing 29-15 victory over Marina Volnova of Kazakhstan, who upset Britain's Savannah Marshall in the previous round.

The United States brought a team of 12 to London but none of their men won a medal, for the first time in Olympic history.

The 17-year-old Shields is the youngest boxer in the tournament and will be favourite to beat Russia's Nadezda Torlopova in the final.