KILDARE PROFESSIONAL BOXER Katelynn Phelan [4-0, 1KO] will travel to Luxembourg on 20 March to face Poland’s Karina Kopinska [13-36-4, 3KOs] in her first bout down at light-welterweight (140 pounds), her promoters Boxing Ireland have confirmed.
The 20-year-old cemented her status as one of the most exciting prospects in Irish boxing in October when, in her fourth professional fight, she travelled to German welterweight (147lb) champion Jessica Schadko’s home gym in Donauwoerth and beat the previously 8-0, heavily hyped favourite into submission after five rounds.
Phelan picked up a couple of secondary world titles and a WBC World Youth strap for her troubles but that German gamble was more about earning a signature early-career victory and creating a bit of hype of her own en route to ‘real’ world-title opportunities.
The Kildare Town native, who was subsequently nominated for RTÉ Young Sportsperson of the Year, later received an offer to fight for a legitimate world title at 147 pounds but for a relatively small purse. In any case, she and her team have long had their eyes set on dropping down a division or two as she continues to train full-time with the highly regarded Niall Barrett and so she will look to earn better opportunities at 140 instead, where a familiar face in Kopinska lies in wait firstly.
The Pole, who fought Monaghan’s Christina McMahon in 2013 and Bray’s Taylor on her pro debut three years later, is a kind of ‘premium’ journeywoman in that she comes to fight rather than to lose, and indeed she has ruined a fair few career plans in her 13 victories. More importantly, however, she has been stopped only three times in 53 fights: by Taylor, Maiva Hamadouche and, most recently, Verena Kaiser, all three of whom are world-class talents.
Phelan will fancy her chances of adding her name to that exalted list as the naturally larger and stronger woman on the night, but Natasha Jonas and Chantelle Cameron are among the legitimate world-level operators who couldn’t halt Kopinska inside the distance during the earlier stages of their careers.
The Facebook pay-per-view card on 20 March (€7) will also involve a host of Phelan’s Boxing Ireland stablemates, including Dominic Donegan and Owen O’Neill, and is available to purchase here.
