TG4 gives fans chance to see Katie’s bid for fifth world title
The championships are being held on Jeju Island in Korea between November 14 and November 24, and Ireland’s 2012 Olympic gold medallist will be joined in the ring there by compatriots Michaela Walsh, Joanne Lambe and Clare Grace.
TG4 had been involved in lengthy negotiations for some months and finally signed an exclusive contract to show any semi-finals and finals in which an Irish boxer will compete on Wednesday.
It is welcome news for her fans, who have all too often been deprived of the possibility of watching the lightweight’s bouts in major championships.
Taylor’s father and coach, Peter, has in recent years been critical of what he claims has been RTÉ’s “disappearance” since televising her historic campaign at the ExCeL Arena at the 2012 Olympic Games.
The Bray fighter claimed her fifth EU Championship belt last year in Keszthely, Hungary and followed it up last June by securing a sixth European title in Bucharest, Romania.
But even those achievements were undermined by outside influences. “With the EU championships, it was just a fight in a little tent in front of 100 people,” Taylor said last year of the Hungarian event. “It was really badly organised.
“For an Olympic medallist to be fighting in front of that kind of crowd, it was just disappointing. It looked like women’s boxing was taking a step backwards.”
Taylor has also been critical of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association’s (IABA) inability to promote her properly and, with no movement on a place for her in the World Series of Boxing series, she has admitted to thoughts of turning professional, although that hasn’t transpired so far.
Her Korean preparations continue this week with a fight against Swedish title holder Patricia Berghult in Fermoy’s Loreto Sports Complex tomorrow before she moves on to the UL Arena in Limerick the next day where Belgium’s Oshin Derieuw will await.
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