KATIE TAYLOR HAS given the strongest indication yet that she will join the professional ranks before the end of her career as her preparations for Rio begin in earnest.
The five-time world champion demonstrated her enduring supremacy in the amateur game over the weekend with comfortable victories over Jelina Jelic and Queen Underwood.
The two fights served as build-up to the Olympic qualifiers, which take place in Istanbul in early April, as Taylor looks to book her place in Rio.
Her focus at present is firmly on safely negotiating the qualifying hurdle in her quest to defend the gold medal she won in London – but the lure of the professional game remains strong.
“I think I’d love to give it a go at some stage of my career,” she said yesterday. “I’d love to box for a world professional title but I don’t know if that’s going to be after Rio or what.
“At the moment all my focus is on the Olympic qualifiers but it is something I’d like to give a go.
“I feel very blessed to be doing what I am doing and there’s such a desire to do what I do but the moment I stop enjoying it you have to hang up the gloves or whatever.
“But I have such a hunger and desire for the sport and I still believe the best is yet to come. There’s great days ahead, as long as I have that desire I’ll always keep going.”
Taylor defeated American lightweight Queen Underwood at the Brandon Hotel in Kerry on Saturday night, a fight which marked the end of her opponent’s amateur career.
The Bray boxer admits she picked the brains of Underwood and her corner about the professional circuit.
“A few of her coaches in her corner were pro boxers as well actually, female pro boxers and I had a good chat with them and they just said there’s not a lot of strength in depth in the pro game because the amateurs aren’t really coming over yet so after a few fights you’re probably going to be in line for a world title straight away.
“I won’t be waiting around too long if I did go pro to get a title fight. I think we need a few of the bigger names in the amateur game to turn over just to generate a bit more interest in the women’s professional game.
“At the moment nobody really knows anything about women’s pro boxing. I don’t even know anything about it and I’m involved in the sport and we definitely need to get a few big names involved.”
Sky Academy Ambassador Katie Taylor is now supported by 33 Sky Sports Living for Sport Athlete Mentors in Ireland following the addition of 16 new sports stars to the programme. The free secondary school initiative that uses sport to build life skills has already benefitted thousands of students in over 200 schools across Ireland. Visit www.skysports.com/livingforsport to get involved.
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