Rio 2016: Nicola Adams fights her way into the history books as she retains Olympic title

The Briton overcame France's Sarah Ourahmoune in the women's flyweight category

Nicola Adams (Getty)

After eight minutes of fighting Nicola Adams entered the history books when the referee lifted her hand for the gold medal over Sarah Ourahmoune in the Olympic flyweight final on Saturday.

In 2012 Adams seemed to float through her fights, picking up wins and fans with ease but in the final round here in the boxing hall she had to have the fight of her life, an old-fashioned slugfest to secure the gold.

Adams is now 33 years-of-age and has refused to make a solid or rash decision on her glittering career and there is every chance that she could make it a triple in Tokyo if that is what she decides. There is also a chance that she will turn professional, which will be an interesting development.

"I wanted that bit of history and now I have it," said Adams."I'm now the most decorated boxer in British (amateur) history and that sounds very special." Adams has two Olympic gold medals, one Commonwealth Games gold, and European and World amateur titles.

Ourahmoune was relentless in the last round, having won the third round on all three scorecards, and the two-minute round ended with the pair locked in mirror-image poses, each swinging and landing in a frenzy that delighted the crowd. Incidentally, tickets for the three finals on Saturday were available for thirty quid, which is a bargain and it seemed that hundreds of travelling British fans heard about the availability and came in homage.

It was Adams that staggered away first from the brawl at the final bell, her smile on display and big even before the decision. "I knew I had done enough, I knew the gold was mine," she said. She was right.

Fifteen minutes later the podium was erected and the four medalists in the flyweight division made their way to the ring led by Adams and she was wiping away tears long before the anthem started. It is an anthem that was played just once in 44-years in the boxing arena at the Olympics and has now been heard five times in the last three Olympics. It could very well be six if Joe Joyce wins on Sunday afternoon.

Big Joe will ruin a perfect golden wedding if he beats Frenchman Tony Yoka in Sunday's super-heavyweight final. Yoka's girlfriend, Estelle Mossley, won the gold medal in the lightweight category on Friday and the pair of love-struck pugilists have a December wedding planned. Joyce starts as the underdog but out here he has fought like a throwback heavyweight from the Seventies with his heavy fists swinging and without a care in the world.

There was a resumption of historic boxing hostilities in the bantamweight final when Cuba's quite brilliant Robeisy Ramirez beat American teenager Shakur Stevenson for gold and bragging rights. The two boxing powerhouses held an annual fixture, featuring 11 and 12 fights, between 1977 and 1995 and the Americans never once won.

Ramirez and Stevenson was poised one round each going into the third and then the Cuban just flicked a switch to make the American, who agreed professional terms with Floyd Mayweather before the semi-final, look like a toddler. It was a brutal masterclass to witness and it left Stevenson in tears. Ramirez was younger than Stevenson when he won his first Olympic gold medal in London and he is now the most wanted Cuban boxer in a system that banned professional boxing over fifty years ago.