BOXING: Shelley Watts' quest to become Australia's first ever amateur world boxing champion is over after the 27-year-old lost on points to Yana Allekseevna on Friday.

The lightweight from Laurieton, on the mid-north NSW coast struggled to impose herself on the experienced Allekseevna as she had in previous fights and all three judges awarded the contest in favour of the Azerbaijani.

Victory would have guaranteed Watts at least a bronze medal, an achievement that hasn't been replicated since 2002 when South Australia's Dessi Kontos finished third in the welterweight division.

However, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games champion can take heart from her performances over the week which yielded wins over world No.9 Jina Park of Korea and the highly-rated Gulzhaina Ubbiniyazova from Kazakhstan, enhancing her reputation on the world stage.

Qualification for the Rio Olympics will be her focus now with the path made even more difficult by the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA), who have informed Boxing Australia they must now qualify through Asia.

The decision was taken following the dreadful showing at the London Olympics by the Australian team with only one of the 11-strong team - one of the biggest in the tournament - reaching the quarter-final stages.

Reigning Olympic and world champion Katie Taylor received a walkover into the semi-finals on the other half of the draw.

The Irishwoman, who was one of the stars of the London Games, was due to fight world No.2 Sofya Ochigava of Russia.

But the rematch of the Olympic final failed to materialise after Ochigava failed to recover from an injury picked up in her last-16 win on Thursday.

AAP