Defending title is Katie goal

Katie Taylor made it clear yesterday she would prefer to turn her back on the professional ranks and fight to retain her gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games and the Bray boxer is expected to announce her final decision on her future within the next 10 days.

Talks have been ongoing between Taylor, her father and coach Peter, the Irish Sports Council (ISC) and the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) for weeks but progress has been slow and numerous professional offers remain on the table.

Taylor opted against delving into details during a round-table chat in the Shelbourne Hotel yesterday but it is believed there is some unhappiness with the IABA’s stance and the fact the matter has dragged on for two months.

“I’d love to stay amateur and go for Rio in four years’ time,” said Katie. “The only thing I haven’t done in amateur boxing is defend my Olympic title. That’s something I’d love to do but at the same time I have been offered a few nice contracts as well in the professional game.”

Those contracts have been flooding in from the USA, the UK and Germany but every syllable uttered by Taylor betrayed her desire to stay amateur and, at 26, she would still be young enough to box in Brazil and then turn pro.

“I absolutely love amateur boxing,” she explained. “I love the Olympics. It’s always challenging defending your titles as well and I would have no trouble finding the motivation to go on as an amateur boxer.”

Nonetheless, her camp has explored the professional game in greater detail and attempted to figure out just how many quality fights there would be in the paid ranks but the general perception is that it lacks the depth and quality of the amateur code.

And there are other pros and cons besides.

“In the professional game, it’s more like a business. It’s a cut-throat business, really. You have to get the right advice and the right promoter. In the amateur game, you have to box who you’re drawn against. There’s no picking and choosing your fights.

“It’s so much harder to win titles in amateur than professional boxing. There’s only one word champion in amateur boxing whereas in the pro game there’s so many titles you can win.”

All Taylor can do for now is train. Her reward for gold in London was a four-week break — the longest by far in her entire career — and she has been back in the gym in Bray for a couple of weeks already and working her way back to peak fitness.

Had her father had his way, Taylor would have retired from the ring after London but the four-time world and five-time European champion admitted yesterday that walking away was “never an option”.

As it happens, it will be some time before she returns to competitive action one way or another. Her next bout, assuming she remains amateur, will probably be at the national championships in February.

Eight weeks have already passed since she defeated Sofya Ochigava in the lightweight final at the ExCeL Arena. Taylor has yet to watch the bout back (she never does) but the country at large is finding it more difficult to move on.

Local kids are still calling at the front door of her parents’ house in Bray where she still lives. School visits and sponsor outings continue to rack up as well, none of which comes naturally for a person who is famously shy and retiring.

“The fundamentals haven’t changed. I still do the same things with my family. Still living at home with family, still living in the same estate but different things... just going for a meal with my parents can be different, people looking for photos and that.

“I have no problem stopping for a photo. The support people have given me over the last few years has been incredible. I like to give something back to those kind of people. I try to keep my life as normal as possible.”

* Sky Sports Scholars Katie Taylor and Mark Rohan visit Dublin together with their mentors and Sky Sports News presenters Rachel Wyse and Sean Fletcher.