Katie Taylor fears amateur boxing in danger of knockout blow

Katie Taylor has warned that the amateur boxing game is in danger of losing its identity and effectively becoming obsolete due to recent moves to minimise the differences between it and the professional fight game.

The decision to remove headgear and singlets in the men’s game, changes to the scoring system and the adoption of avenues such as World Series of Boxing and APB Boxing have muddied the waters between the two worlds and maybe not for the better.

Irish amateur boxing has already lost a number of top fighters to the professional game, Jason Quigley and John Joe Nevin among them, while Michael Conlan is another still contemplating a potential switch.

“What they are trying to do is make the sport more spectator friendly,” said Taylor in Dublin yesterday. “It hasn’t really attracted any more spectators. I am definitely worried about that as well – amateur boxing should be kept as amateur boxing.

“I’m not sure what to make of the whole thing, to be honest. It is becoming more and more like pro boxing every day. They were saying it might stop people turning pro, but it has had the opposite effect.

“More are turning pro because of it, because they are boxing without the headgear anyway so they are less inclined to stick around when they can make more money out of the professional game.”

Taylor is rehabbing a wrist injury suffered when winning a gold medal at November’s World Championships in South Korea, though she plans to fight a handful of times before appearing at June’s first ever European Games.

“It’s getting there,” she said of her injury. “It’s still not 100%. I bruised the bone and tore the cartilage so it is a very slow process. I’ve been doing an awful lot with my right hand so my right shoulder is almost falling off me” It’s been frustrating the last few weeks. I thought I would have been back by now.”