Katie Taylor calls for more time

Katie Taylor has called for women’s professional boxing rounds to be extended to three minutes, in line with men’s bouts, following her fourth pro win over the weekend.

The former Olympic champion cruised to her fourth win in as many months, with a dominant 80-72 points decision over Bulgarian Milena Koleva at the Manchester Arena on Saturday night.

Taylor dismantled her 28-year-old opponent, a former world title challenger, putting Koleva on the canvas in the penultimate round of an eight-round lightweight contest after a right hook capped off a flurry of punches.

Despite bombarding her opponent after that, the Bray woman could not record a third pro stoppage. In this instance, the fact women’s bouts are held over two-minute rounds did not particularly play in Taylor’s favour, as she fought over eight rounds for the first time.

Notably, the 30-year-old appeared to be more energetic than in her previous pro bouts — and, indeed, far more so than during the decline of her amateur career, but her failure to finish off Koleva may revive questions over the Bray woman’s power.

Countering that concern, Taylor said: “If you had three-minute rounds you would have a better chance of stopping these girls, for sure.

“It does make for a different fight as well,” she continued when quizzed on whether the same time-keeping should be applied to women’s boxing as men’s.

“We spar three-minute rounds all the time, I’m happy to go three-minute rounds. I think you would see a lot more knockouts in the women’s game,” added Taylor, who referenced that mixed martial arts organisations, such as the UFC, have standard time-keeping across both genders.

Taylor’s team are understood to be in the process of putting a proposal to the British Boxing Board of Control to extend the length of women’s pro boxing rounds ahead of her next fight in London next month. The Bray native’s coach, Ross Enamait, echoed her sentiments.

“I’d love to see three-minute rounds, I hate the twos,” said Enamait.

Taylor will return home for a few days’ rest before another flight Stateside where she has trained under Enamait in between her hectic fight schedule. However, the 30-year-old insists that her jet-set lifestyle has not negatively impacted on her performances.

“No, I don’t sleep anyway,” laughed Taylor when quizzed on the topic of time differences and regular transatlantic flights.

“So the flying back and forth doesn’t really bother me too much. It’s only a six-hour journey, which isn’t too bad, and I am getting the best of training out there.”

The five-time amateur world champion will be kept busy by promoter Eddie Hearn and manager Brian Peters as they look to build towards a world-title shot in Dublin this year.

Taylor has an April 29 undercard date in support of the world heavyweight title clash between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley, while a summer ring date in the US is also in the works before a possible European fight in advance of an autumn title shot - should all go to plan.