Katie Taylor finally gets back to serious stuff
Taylor yesterday weighed in for the 2016 National Elite Senior Championships, which will start before the new year in a bid to avoid clashes with international action and Olympic qualifiers.
The women’s national championships were due to get underway last night at the National Stadium, but the IABA opted to postpone the opening bell due to the small number of female entries and, along with the men’s competition, the tournament will now start next weekend. Taylor will have her first domestic final bout on Friday week (Nov 27) after receiving a bye to the 60kg lightweight decider where she will meet the winner of next weekend’s semi-final between 20-year-olds Kayleigh Murrihy McCormack of Kilfenora and Clonmel’s Shauna O’Keeffe.
“I’m looking forward to actually boxing for a title this year - it’s been a long time coming,” said Taylor.
Bray native Taylor has not fought since her European Games final win over Estelle Mossely of France, but she faces a busy schedule in 2016. The 29-year-old is likely to compete at a multi-nations event before the first European qualifier for Rio, which takes place in Turkey in April, before the World Championships in Astana, which have been moved from a January start date to May.
“It’s well needed and I need to stay busy and get a few fights,” said Taylor ahead of the Irish final. I hope to have a few more fights before April as well to prepare [for a European qualifier]. I definitely don’t like being out of the ring for so long.”
The Olympic champion’s four previous Irish senior titles were all claimed on walkovers, while she opted not to compete in 2012 ahead of the London Olympics.
A hand injury ruled her out of the 2015 final earlier this year when Debbie O’Reilly of the Olympic club beatLouise Donohue of Geesala in Taylor’s absence and while neither 2015 finalist has entered the 2016 tournament, the Bray woman is delighted to finally have competition in the form of McCormack or O’Keeffe.
“I always expect girls to enter and I’ve trained for a fight and trained for the last few months,” said Taylor. “We’re all gearing up towards fighting and the last thing you want is girls pulling out, it can get very frustrating but it’s not going to happen this time. The two girls weighing in are well up for a fight and it’s something that they’ve trained for all year,” added Taylor, who was previously due to compete in the 2014 Irish final against old friend and foe Alanna Audley Murphy, but the latter was forced to pull out due to a family bereavement.
On other occasions, it is believed many club coaches have been reluctant to put their boxers in against the Olympic champion, who has won five world titles at her 60kg weight class.
Only three weights (51kg, 60kg and 75kg) are eligible to participate in female boxing at the Olympics and Taylor believes boxing chiefs should make more of an effort to encourage boxers to compete in those categories in the build-up to the Games.
“I think 60kg is a very common weight… with it being one of the three Olympic weights, they should all be really packed,” said the 29-year-old. “It’s very surprising in an Olympic year that it’s not. They [her potential rivals] should be testing themselves against the best and that would be my mindset - the fact that some others don’t feel that way is very frustrating for me.”
