THE FIRST PHONECALL Katie Taylor received when she exited the Rio 2016 Olympics at the quarter-final stage was from Roy Keane.
Keane raised Taylor’s spirits at the lowest point of her life. He told her to keep her head up, to walk proudly and to keep going.
Five years on and Taylor defends her undisputed lightweight championship in boxing’s professional ranks tonight, when she faces Texan Jennifer Han across the Pennines from Keane in Leeds, a city of special significance to the Irish icon: her father was raised here and she was subsequently raised as a supporter of Leeds United.
“My favourite player growing up was Roy Keane — who was a Man United player, so I’m not sure that will go down well with the Leeds fans,” Taylor laughs. “Seriously!
“But as a Leeds fan I loved the likes of Lee Bowyer, Alan Smith. I liked the rough players… That’s why I was always drawn to Roy Keane as well.”
The respect between Keane and Taylor, fellow Ireland football internationals, is certainly mutual. Keane recently included Taylor alongside Bob Dylan and Norman Wisdom in his list of three people he’d most like to invite to dinner.
Taylor didn’t think to invite Keane to her fight at Headingley Stadium tonight but never say never. “I know when I was going to fight in Manchester (last May), I know he had been in touch and wanted a ticket to go to the fight.
“He’s my favourite sportsperson of all time,” Taylor smiles, almost star-struck even in Keane’s absence. “He was a hero of mine growing up.”
Possibly the greatest goal I've seen while involved as coach of the Irish Women's Team
— Gerard Dunne (@gdunne16) March 8, 2019
2007 @FAIreland 2 Hungary 1@KatieTaylor with the long distance strike #20x20 #ShowYourStripes #CantSeeCantBe #InternationalWomenDay2019 pic.twitter.com/qtt5QZOUA2
Whether Keane moseys over or not, there will be close to 20,000 bums in seats by the time Taylor makes her ring-walk at around 9pm this evening (exclusively live on the streaming service DAZN). Recalling days spent in the middle of such gatherings from her childhood, Taylor says: “They’re definitely a very, very loud and passionate crowd. A very rough crowd as well — but I like that. They were some of my best memories growing up going to Leeds United games in Elland Road. I went a couple of times.
“We would come over to visit my Da’s family and with that, we always went to a Leeds United game. It was so special. Every Christmas I got a Leeds United jersey and a pair of football boots. That was part of growing up for me.”
Taylor, who went on to earn 11 senior international caps for the Republic of Ireland, adds however: “My dream and passion was to become an Olympic champion; my whole childhood was based around that dream. Even though it wasn’t a reality at the time, I always believed it was going to be the case. Football was a huge part of my life growing up but boxing was always my number-one passion.”
“I think I’m still as passionate about my sport as I ever have been,” Taylor adds. “I love my sport, I’m not tired of getting up in the morning.
“I obviously wake up somedays and I’m not in the mood to train but I always — absolutely always — show up for the job. If it’s ever the case that you’re pulling a sickie, or whatever, that’s when you know you’re not going to be 100% prepared stepping into the ring.
I’ve always been told from a very, very young age that the days when you don’t want to train: they’re the days that are actually the most important. They’re the days that make the difference between winning and losing. And that always stuck in my head from a very young age. Regardless of how I feel in the morning, I still show up for the job. And that’s obviously the difference.
It’s no secret that media days during fight week — and media duties generally — are right up there with Taylor’s least favourite aspects of her profession. She is never anything but polite, never especially intolerant even of stupid questions. She usually laughs and indicates that ‘it’s grand’ when manager Brian Peters looms around her interviewer with a raised thumb that says, ‘Time’s up’.
Privately, outside of mandated media days, requests to interview Taylor are generally greeted these days not with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’, but with a ‘why’.
She just doesn’t see much point in having to answer questions from borderline strangers, particularly while she’s trying to focus on 10 rounds of unarmed combat on a Saturday night — or, indeed, on a movie that might allow her to temporarily take her mind off an upcoming fight. She is already one of the highest earning female athletes on the planet and is scarcely in need of a boost in profile.
“It’s definitely a very, very busy week,” she says. “It’s something I’ve had to adapt to. It’s just part of professional boxing and I’ve definitely tried to embrace it a bit more but it is very hard when you’re as quiet and as shy as me.
“A few of the girls” have made their way over from Bray for tonight’s clash with Han and Taylor sounds genuinely excited to fight in front of her friends for the first time since November 2019, and to see them afterwards. Although, she says: “I don’t even tend to respond, to be honest, to too many texts from home this week. Obviously, family are the ones I do respond to. I’m getting text messages and I’m so grateful for all the support but I don’t tend to actually reply… Maybe that’s rude of me!” she laughs. “But I’m basically just trying to keep my head down, stay focused on the fight.”
All week, though, Taylor is confronted by questions about fighters who aren’t Jennifer Han: the likes of fellow world champions Amanda Serrano, Chantelle Cameron and Jessica McCaskill, the latter of whom traveled to Leeds from Chicago with her trainer-manager Rick Ramos in pursuit of another fight with Taylor.
That’s because the quietest woman in boxing is the name on every other fighter’s lips, and a fight against Taylor is worth at least six figures even to a comparably low-profile challenger like Han.
“I think it is obviously annoying but also a privilege at the same time that I am the name that people are throwing out all the time,” Taylor smiles. “This is a big-money fight in women’s boxing as well. But I don’t overlook anyone, my focus is completely on this fight. All week, people have been shouting out those kind of names. I’m trying to tell everyone I actually have a fight to focus on this week,” Taylor says, chuckling but with detectable annoyance. “It is part of the game, I guess. It’s annoying but also a privilege.”
Taylor, whose own purses these days fluctuate between high six-figure to seven-figure sums, stresses that “money is definitely not my priority”. However, just like her opponents, the world of prizefighting has forced her at times to contend with her own commercial value, and to ensure she is paid her worth.
“It’s still important. I want to earn as much money as I can in the sport, as well: I know it’s a very, very short career. But that’s why you have a great manager, that’s why you have a great team of people around you — honestly.
“He (Brian Peters) negotiates very well for me, he does business very, very well for me. He’s getting the most money for me, really. And I think one of the most important parts of being a professional boxer is having a good manager around you, just organising those details, really. The boxers shouldn’t be involved in those negotiations too much, in my opinion.”
Keeping the show on the road with victory in Leeds tonight will pave the path towards bigger fights, perhaps including even a record pay-day and career-defining showdown with seven-weight world champion Amanda Serrano in the big building at Madison Square Garden, New York, in the spring.
Asked if she has brought with her a Leeds jersey to amplify the support she’ll receive during her ring-walk at Headingley, Taylor says: “I actually left it at home. I don’t know; it’d be a bit cheesy, anyway, would it?
“Hopefully they’ll already know the connection. I’ve been mentioning it everywhere I go all week,” she laughs.