Taylor close to resolution with IABA

Irish Olympic gold medal winner Katie Taylor is hoping her dispute with the Irish Amateur Boxing Association is nearing a resolution.

The Bray woman hit out at the IABA last month due to the lack of progress in establishing a women’s form of the World Series of Boxing (WSB). Taylor admitted she was flirting with the idea of turning pro as she had only one competitive fight this year at the European Union Amateur Boxing Championships in July.

“It’s been a frustrating year for me with the lack of developments,” she said yesterday on the Ray Darcy Show.

“The World Series of Boxing is what the lads have been in the last couple of years where you box without headgear in a professional format and you keep your amateur status. It was promised for women’s boxing but nothing happened.”

However, she admitted the issue is close to being solved following positive correspondence between the IABA and her father in recent weeks.

“My dad has been emailing them back and forth and hopefully things will get sorted in the next few weeks. That’s what they promised anyway and hopefully the WSB will get going in the next few months.”

Taylor’s is still focused on winning a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and she admitted to thinking about the event every day.

“I probably would. Rio is the long-term goal. It’s what gets me up every morning but at the same time I kind of take it one fight at a time and there’s always different goals and ambitions every year.”

But with the gold medal in her back pocket from London, she knows she will be targeted at every event between now and the Games.

“They all raise their game against me. It makes every fight difficult because they’ve nothing to lose going into the ring against me. It makes every competition difficult. That’s why it’s so hard to defend titles.”

The former Irish soccer international also wished Roy Keane the best in his new role as the Republic of Ireland’s assistant manager.

“Roy Keane was one of my heroes growing up. It’s really exciting him being involved. There’s no better man to instil some pride in the country than Roy Keane.

“There’s only so much a manager can do though. It’s up to the players on the pitch to perform.”