Ready to Serb
Taylor Ross to represent Canada at Golden Gloves in Serbia
Boxer Taylor Ross competing at Golden Gloves tournament in Serbia.
Taylor Ross’ boxing world tour continues next week, this time in Serbia.
The Whitney Pier pugilist is set to represent Canada in the youth female 75 kg division at the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina international tournament from Wednesday until July 12. She leaves on Sunday.
This is the second major international competition for the 17-year-old. In May, her travels took her to Taipei, Taiwan, for the 2015 AIBA Junior/Youth Women’s World Boxing Championships.
Although she lost to American Iesha Kenney in the opening draw, Ross said the event was a positive experience.
“I got to see the world-class fighters and what I’m up against,” she said Thursday at the Sydney Boxing Club. “Up to that point, I never really saw that and never knew the kind of girls out there. It prepared me more for this one and it helped me realized more of what I have to do to fight with these girls.
“They’re all really strong and fast and overall good fighters.”
Ross has just returned from a national team training camp in Ottawa and said she has had more time to prepare than her last trip to Taiwan. She didn’t find out until she was heading to Taipei until about a week before the event.
The 2012 Ringside World Championships winner said “it feels pretty surreal” to get to travel the world and compete.
“I’m really looking forward to the trip because I don’t know much about Serbia and I don’t know exactly what the country is like, so I’m excited to see something new.”
The summer of competition continues next month for Ross. She’ll head to Morocco with the national team. Her main goal is reaching the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan.