Taylor handed tough opener but dad insists it will be chance to show off skills

Katie Taylor may not have received the easiest of draws for her Olympic debut but coach and father Pete insists it will not faze the favourite for gold.

The four-time world champion was made top seed for yesterday’s draw at the ExCel arena and while that got her a bye to the quarter-finals she found herself on the same side as old adversaries Queen Underwood (USA), Natasha Jonas (Great Britain) and Cheng Dong (China).

Her opponent for Monday week’s opener will come from a mouth-watering contest involving Underwood and local starlet Jonas, who represents the hosts at lightweight.

Taylor has victories over both women in recent years. She beat Underwood in back-to-back internationals in Ireland three years ago, 30-3 in the National Stadium and RSC in Athy.

But in Barbados on September 17, 2010 she had to dig deep in defence of her World Championship title when Underwood was one point up with 16 seconds remaining after forcing Taylor to take a standing count. Taylor did remarkably well to come back to win 18-16, especially as Underwood won the last round 8-3.

That was the last time they touched gloves and it is probably the contest people will use as a barometer of the American’s class, although it should be remembered Taylor was suffering from food poisoning at the time of the fight.

Underwood, who got through to the Olympic Games on a wild card after a disappointing World Championships in China, has a bit to go to set up this meeting and Liverpudlian Jonas will prove a handful.

The English woman could be more dangerous than the American should she advance. She lost to another Irish boxer, Sinead Kavanagh, early in her career and later beat Alanna Murphy.

When she eventually met Taylor at the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria she lost a desperately close contest 6-3, while at the Olympic Test Event at the ExCel last year she beat Underwood 23-15.

Maybe it was the draw Taylor did not particularly want but while her father Pete admitted it could have been kinder, he showed no real concern.

“Ah sure you’ve got to beat everyone if you’re going to be the Olympic champion,” he said.

“It makes no difference if you get them in the first fight or the last fight. I think it’s great — to tell you the truth — because it will enable Katie to show the world what female boxing is all about and it’s not a shoo-in. These competitions are difficult to win. It’s a great platform for her to show off her skills.

“It’s not been kind but it’s not been kind to the other girls either, has it? That’s the way I look at it. Nobody wants to be in Katie’s end of the draw. It makes no difference to us.

“Natasha beat Queen fairly convincingly in the test event here in the ExCel in November. She’s a much-improved girl, Natasha. But it’s not a test event now, it’s the Olympic Games. You don’t know. It’s a 50-50 fight to tell you the truth I think.

“Katie beat her [Jonas] in Bulgaria a couple of years ago, 6-3, it was a tough fight. She is a good girl to box against, a southpaw as well, she’s an awkward girl but I think Sofya Ochigava got the nice end of the draw. She got most of the wild cards. It will be good practice for Sofya for the final.

“Katie’s in great form, she’s looking forward to this now. Whoever wins, wins and she just wants to fight whoever it is.

“Katie never preferred not to fight anyone to tell you the truth. Whoever came out, came out. If it had been Sofya Ochigava or anyone, we don’t mind who we box. At the end of the day she’s a four-time world champion because she’s beaten everyone before. We had no preferences about who we drew today.

“We’re here to win the competition, not just a medal.

“Every fight is a final, every fight is a gold medal fight. It will make no difference to us.”