THERE WAS A brief moment of tension which quickly morphed into cringe comedy during Wednesday’s media workout in Liverpool.
Lightweight ruler Katie Taylor, fresh off a couple of rounds on the pads with trainer Ross Enemait in what was no more than a promotional exercise in the ring, joined DAZN at the back of the hall for a quick interview with the host broadcaster for her fifth title defence versus Firuza Sharipova this Saturday.
As presenters Chris Lloyd and Darren Barker were gearing up, challenger Sharipova — who had taken the unusual step of watching the champion’s workout intently from ringside — emerged from the flank and strolled towards Taylor.
It was striking enough that a bit of a hush fell upon the room but not sufficiently menacing-looking for anybody to stop the Kazakh, who hasn’t minced her words in vowing to dethrone her one-time idol at the M&S Bank Arena this weekend.
In the end, though, Sharipova, who doesn’t speak English, just reached for Taylor’s hand and said hello. “Hi, how’s it going, nice to meet you,” was Taylor’s response. And then there were a few seconds in which it seemed neither fighter really knew what was going on, so Sharipova just smiled back towards the camera of her manager, Sergey Zavileisky, who was recording the interaction for her Instagram account of 150,000-plus followers. Taylor, conspicuously bemused, gave a thumbs up in Zavileisky’s direction before turning her attention back towards her impending DAZN interview.
But she looked bemused for a reason.
“When she came over, I actually didn’t realise who she was until she walked away,” Taylor laughs.
“I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, actually, that’s my opponent.’
“I had seen the team around but I wasn’t taking much notice of them. Obviously, I had my own work to do. It was quite strange but yeah… Whatever!”
It wasn’t that she had never before laid eyes on Sharipova, of course. Such an approach would be folly when there’s a former Kazakh amateur champion — who fought at the same World Championships but in a different division to Taylor in 2012 — hellbent on her downfall, despite appearances.
Usually, when she has a fight all but confirmed, but before it’s public knowledge, she’ll drop the news into her family WhatsApp group to let them know. “At least I don’t have to send it to them all individually,” she says, “but Brian (Peters, Taylor’s manager) would be in regular contact with the family anyway, so…”
She might give the odd opponent a cursory Google if she’s unfamiliar, but Sharipova’s name rang a bell from their amateur days despite their having never crossed paths. In any case, further information on the woman intent on relieving her of her undefeated record — whoever she may be — is rarely long landing onto Taylor’s phone.
“Ross usually passes me on a few clips here and there”, she says, “just so I have a sense of what to expect on the actual fight night, I’m not going into the fight blindly.
I knew of Sharipova even in the amateur game. I know that she has a good amateur pedigree and I know that she comes to fight, as well — she has a good engine. I know the important details, I guess, but it’s also nice to see a few clips on video.
Taylor learned only earlier this week, however, that her London Olympic final opponent, Sofya Ochigava, was “instrumental” to Sharipova’s preparation in Moscow for Saturday’s attempt to shock the boxing world.
The Russian great, a former amateur world champion and an 11-time major international medal winner, made her pro debut versus none other than Sharipova herself in 2016, besting her over the four-round distance in what was also the Kazakh’s paid bow.
Ochygava stepped away from the professional ring at 2-0 in 2016, returning last year with a sole purpose in mind: to avenge what she described to The42 on Monday as her “political” defeat to Taylor in their London 2012 showpiece. “After they raised her hand, I asked Katie and her coaches how much her medal was worth,” the 34-year-old recalled.
She’s not in Liverpool to support Sharipova, however, because she has a sixth pro fight of her own scheduled for Christmas Day back in Russia.
“It’s crazy,” Taylor says scornfully. “I didn’t realise she was still talking about that fight. It was nine years ago. It’s a long time ago now.
I do remember her coming up to me after that and actually apologising to me for her comments in London, so she’s gone back on her word again I guess! She came over [almost four years] after London to help me with sparring — this was to prepare me for the Rio Olympics. And she was fairly apologetic about her comments so it’s funny that she’s gone back on that word again.
Taylor is also incredulous at the notion of Ochigava being some sort of secret weapon in Sharipova’s arsenal: after a heavy defeat in a smaller tournament when they first fought in 2010, the Irish icon beat the Russian in their final three meetings as an amateur: in the 2011 European final and in both the World Championships and Olympic deciders the following year.
On a prospective bout with her former rival in the pro ranks, Taylor says “maybe”, but only before giving the impression that she has bigger fish to fry these days: “I’d have no problems with it but I guess right now, there’s so many huge fights out there… I don’t think she’s really in contention right now to fight for titles.
“I have no problem fighting whoever, whenever,” she smiles.
Perhaps they can duke it out online one day. Taylor confirmed that she is set to feature in an upcoming boxing video game, eSports Boxing Club, which is tentatively set to be released by publishers Steel City Interactive on PlayStation, Xbox and Windows computers next summer. It will mark the first significant boxing game since EA Sports’ Fight Night Champion, which was released a decade ago.
Taylor will be handsomely compensated for her inclusion in ESBC alongside some of the sport’s greatest current and former boxers.
But even as a 35-year-old who hasn’t played a PlayStation since the odd game of EA’s Knockout Kings with her brothers in the late ’90s/early ’00s, that competitive edge, and so on…
“Yeah, I mean it’s cool to be involved but yeah, I would like to be highly rated, I guess!” Taylor laughs. “If it’s going to be out there, why not try to be the highest rated female boxer out there? On the video game at least…
“I went to the guy who’s developing the game after my last fight and had to get scanned for a few hours. It was a strange experience. It’s obviously completely high-tech stuff. He was showing me a small bit of the game as well — it looks fantastic. The graphics and all in it look really cool.
“I think a lot of people are actually just excited about having a boxing game — I don’t think there’s been a boxing game for a long time. My nephew’s over here and he actually pre-ordered the game months ago so yeah, it’s pretty cool!”
