Katie Taylor to open boxing club after civic reception

ONE of Ireland’s best hopes for a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London is likely to be mobbed by autograph-hunters when she opens a boxing club in north Cork tonight.

Katie Taylor is to open the fledgling St John’s Boxing Club in Fermoy at 7.30pm.

An hour earlier, the 22-year-old Dubliner will receive a civic welcome from Fermoy Town Council.

Pa Flynn, public relations officer for the boxing club, described Katie Taylor as one of the greatest sportswomen this country ever produced.

“I was the Irish team manager in 2005 when Katie won her first gold medal at the European Amateur Championships in Norway. She was only 17 at the time,” Mr Flynn said.

He had remained good friends with her and her family ever since and was delighted that she had accepted the invitation to visit Fermoy.

“It will take a very good girl to beat Katie for a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics,” he added.

Ms Taylor started her boxing career at the tender age of 12 and, by 2006, she had claimed a second successive gold medal by stopping reigning world champion Tatiana Chalaya of Russia at the European Amateur Championships in Warsaw.

The same year, Ms Taylor became Ireland’s first World Amateur Champion when she defeated Annabella Farias of Argentina in the 60kg final.

Last month, she won her fourth successive European Championship title in the Ukraine, without conceding a point

The St John’s Boxing Club has 25 boxers from eight years of age up.

However, Mr Flynn said he was confident the number will grow significantly in the years ahead and the arrival of Katie Taylor in the town could only be good for promoting the sport.

The club will present Ms Taylor with a piece of Waterford Crystal.

“People don’t have to be members of the club to turn up for her visit. All we ask is that children are accompanied by an adult,” Mr Flynn said.