Katie Taylor: 'I go into every camp training like an underdog, these belts are everything to me'

Taylor remains characteristically unperturbed by any brash bravado. Halloween heralded 20 years since she partook in Irish boxing’s first sanctioned female bout.

OLIVE BRANCH: Katie Taylor, left, is presented with a football by Firuza Sharipova during yesterday’s weigh-in. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Diplomacy has framed much of Katie Taylor’s pre-fight promotion in the pro game.

Her ascendancy within the upper ranks of women’s boxing is acknowledged, prospective challengers to her crown are typically keen to credit the incumbent.