Esther McCarthy: Thanks to Katie Taylor, girls can now punch above their weight

Thanks to Katie, whether a girl walks or skips is completely up to her

Katie Taylor’s achievement isn’t that she persuaded girls to take up boxing. It’s that she made it possible for any girl to choose it. Picture: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

“I’ll kneel down to make it fair,” she says kindly, helping me tie the battered brown leather boxing gloves. They keep falling off because they are not made for a seven-year-old girl.

My aunt is seven years older than me and true to her word. She kneels down.