Katie: Irish hopes rest on draw

The chances of the five-man Irish boxing team having a successful campaign in Beijing next month could all hinge on the draw, according to women's boxing star Katie Taylor.

The reigning World and European lightweight champion will be a keen viewer of the Games as she settles into the studios at Montrose as one of RTE's boxing analysts.

The official boxing draw ceremony for Beijing will be made in the Asia Hotel on August 8, the day before the boxing competition begins at the Workers' Indoor Arena.

And Taylor feels a favourable draw could be the ideal momentum builder for Ireland's fighters, who are currently away at their final training camp in Vladivostok, Russia.

"The draw, that's the key for the lads. Hopefully they will get a good draw but that's something you can't really control. You can't really think of things like that as well," Taylor explained.

"If they draw a Russian or a Cuban they will just have to get on with things. I'm sure they are prepared and they are looking forward to the challenge."

There will be a tinge of sadness when she settles down to watch the Irish fighters in action in China, as Taylor's dreams of Olympic gold were crushed by the International Olympic Committee's decision not to sanction women's boxing for Beijing.

"I'm very disappointed about it (not being included), because I definitely would have been going for the gold medal," said the Bray fighter.

"I've known for the last few years really that women's boxing wasn't going to be in Beijing so I've been just concentrating on the tournaments that I have going on.

"I'm looking forward to watching the Olympics anyway, we have got five boxers qualified which is an amazing achievement."

The Irish team have Billy Walsh, a former Olympian and seven-time Irish senior champion, as their head coach for Beijing and former Georgian senior champions Zuar Antia will work the corner.

Taylor has mixed with and trained alongside all five Olympic qualifiers - Ken Egan, Darren Sutherland, Paddy Barnes, John Joe Nevin and John Joe Joyce.

Although the lure of turning professional after the Olympics will be strong, the 22-year-old reckons Barnes, Nevin and Joyce could feature again in London in four years' time.

"Darren Sutherland is definitely going to go pro after the Olympics, but I'm not sure about the rest of them - the likes of Paddy Barnes, John Joe Nevin and John Joe Joyce, they are three very young lads, only between 19 and 21 years of age.

"I think that really this is a great experience for them for 2012 and I think that they probably should stick around for the 2012 Olympics as well.

"With the experience of being in this year's Olympics as well, it's going to be brilliant for them," she added.

Taylor reckons American flyweight Rau'Shee Warren and English lightweight Frankie Gavin are two fighters to watch out for in Beijing - "both of them are hard to beat and exciting to watch too."

While Irish boxing's golden girl will want to make her mark in 2012, she has plenty of memories of Irish stars of past Olympics.

"I was a bit too young to actually watch those wins (from Barcelona 1992), but I watched them on video before and it was an amazing achievement for both Michael Carruth and Wayne McCullough and the whole country really came to a standstill when they won it, it was brilliant.

"I also loved watching Sonia O'Sullivan as well winning her silver medal (in Sydney in 2000), and what she has done for Irish sport in the last 10 or 15 years has been amazing."

Taylor's goals for this year and beyond remain clear - keep working hard while winning tournaments and major championships.

With her father Peter as her coach, she will undoubtedly do her utmost to remain on that golden path to London.

"I have the World Championships again this year and hopefully I can defend my World and European titles in the next few years and that's going to be a huge challenge for me as well," she admitted.

"It's just to keep myself focused for the next few years. I think if I stay at the top of my game for the next few years there's no reason I can't win the gold medal in 2012. It's going to be an exciting few years ahead."