Ren Cancan of China (left) defends against Nicola Adams of Britain during their women's boxing flyweight final at the 2012 London Olympic Games yesterday.

Britain's Nicola Adams became the first woman to win an Olympic boxing title when she stormed her way past China's Ren Cancan to take the flyweight gold yesterday.

Adams easily recorded a 16-7 win in the final at the ExCel Arena in southeast London over the three-time world champion.

The Briton shadow boxed in each corner of the ring in delight after the fourth and final two-minute round, all of which she dominated.

"I have just wanted this all my life, all this support has really made my day. I am just so happy and overwhelmed tonight," Adams told the BBC.

The noisy crowd, including British royalty in the form of Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, roared in delight as Adams bossed the early exchanges to open up 4-2 lead after the first round.

Adams evaded Ren's jabs to land clever shots and get in the face of her illustrious opponent, who had impressed at the Games with her ability to fight at a distance with her rangy jab.

Adams then landed a massive right hand halfway through the second round to dump Ren flat on her back on the canvas as she took a 9-4 lead.

The intensity unsettled Ren who tried to mix it with Adams rather than use the boxing artistry that had taken her to three world championships as the Briton easily closed out the contest, the first of three women's boxing finals yesterday.

Losing semifinalists Mary Kom of India and American Marlen Esparez took bronze.

Later, Ireland's Katie Taylor beat Russian Sofya Ochigava to win the lightweight title.

Taylor, roared on by fans, beat the taller Russian 10-8.

Mavzuna Chorieva of Tajikistan and Brazilian Adriana Araujo took bronze.

American Claressa Shields beat Nadezda Torlopova of Russia 19-12 to take the middleweight crown, the last of the titles at the Games where women's boxing debuted.

China's Li Jinzi and Marina Volnova of Kazakhstan settled for bronze.

On Wednesday, Chinese light flyweight Zou Shiming avoided an upset, holding off Kazakhstan's Birzhan Zhakypov 13-10 to clinch his third Olympic medal.

Zou's next bout is against Ireland's charismatic Paddy Barnes in a tantalizing rematch of Zou's 15-0 victory in Beijing.

Zou was the first boxing medalist in Chinese history in Athens, and became the first gold medalist under enormous home pressure in 2008. He won another world title last year, but in London, he hasn't been the nearly-unhittable dynamo who blew away the field in Beijing.

Zhakypov did plenty of damage to Zou, whose martial arts-based style barely kept him in the tournament.

Barnes beat India's Devendro Laishram 23-18 to clinch his second Olympic medal.