Taylor turns attention to Brazilian boxer in her mission to be undisputed champion
KATIE TAYLOR’S mission to become the undisputed World lightweight champion will resume in July when she faces Brazilian Rose Volante, who holds the WBO belt.
Taylor became the unified lightweight champion of the world with a convincing points win over a battling Victoria Noelia Bustos in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday.
Though 35, Volante is a relative novice, having made her professional debut in 2014. Unbeaten in 13 fights, all of which have taken place in her native country, she secured the WBO title last December and successfully defended it last month.
While a venue has yet to be finalised, according to Taylor’s Irish manager Brian Peters the contest will be staged in England.
The new WBA and IBF champion flew back to Ireland overnight to spend time with her family in Bray and saviour the fact that she is at the midpoint of achieving her cherished ambition of winning all four belts in the 135lb division by the end of the year.
“I’m just very happy to win and become the unified champion. Victoria had held the IBF belt for five years and had proved a great champion,” said Taylor.
“I thought I’d box clever early in the fight because it was important to rack up those rounds. Then I was able to mix it up in the second half of the fight.”
She wasn’t surprised the fight lasted the scheduled 10 rounds.
“This is what we had prepared for. She is a very durable boxer. She had defended the belt five times and had fought 10 rounds on numerous occasions,” she said.
Taylor spent three months at her training base in Connecticut preparing for the fight under trainer Ross Enamait – her longest camp.
“I was very well prepared. I have a great team around me in the gym, but outside I am pretty anonymous over there, which I like,” said Taylor.
“I was nervous before the fight – I always am. I’d be worried if I wasn’t nervous because fighting for these belts means an awful lot to me.
“I’m learning on the trade, as they say. I didn’t realise how different the amateur game is to the professional one until I was involved in these fights. Even the work you do in the gym is completely different,” she explained.
In financial terms, Saturday’s fight was the most lucrative of her career. The purse exceeded the substantial six-figure sum she received for her last fight in London’s York Hall before Christmas.
The Taylor team were disappointed that the contest wasn’t shown live on the American TV network HBO. This was compounded when the two subsequent contests which were live went the full distance, which meant that the highlights package from her fight lasted only 60 seconds.
The consensus was that the network were the big losers, as Peters explained.
“Michael Buffer (the boxing announcer) said it was the greatest female fight he had seen. Former boxing greats like Roy Jones Jr. were at ringside and witnessed what she can do.
PRESSURE
“We are trying to convince people that women’s boxing is very entertaining. Katie is aware of that and she is under a lot of pressure every time she gets into the ring.
“We will do the unification fight with the Brazilian next – probably in July in the UK. We’ve had talks with Delfine Persoon (the WBC champion) as well. They’re all on the list.
“At the end of the day it doesn’t matter – Katie is going to beat all of them. So they might as well step up and get well paid.
“Fighting Katie gets them big exposure on big shows and the biggest pay cheques of their careers as well.” But that’s all in the future.
All Katie was looking forward to after her night’s work was a small slice of chocolate cake.
The headline on her recent profile in ‘Ring Magazine’ perfectly summed up Ireland’s favourite sportswoman: The Humble Conqueror.