What Katie did next

This week sees the first small screen airing of Ross Whitaker’s incisive documentary following the fortunes of our world champion boxer Katie Taylor as she makes her way through the professional ranks. Michael Doherty caught up with the champ last year to talk about the film.

Michael Doherty: How did it feel to be involved in a situation like this where control is out of your hands and the finished product will be framed by directors and editors? Katie Taylor: It’s a good question, but having seen what Ross did with his documentary, Saviours, I was never worried about that. I knew all the guys in that documentary personally, and they were great guys. When we started, I was going through ups and downs in all aspects of my life and I think it was important to portray that truthfully, not just to focus on the highs. It was very important to me that the battles and the struggles would all be documented.

Did you almost forget that the cameras were there?

Ross took a fly-on-the-wall approach, but after a few fights I knew that it wasn’t going to be intrusive at all. A lot of the time I didn’t even notice the cameras were there! It wasn’t that they were in my face: Ross would often be in the corner. That’s why you could be yourself and why it worked so well. Ross became part of the team. It was almost more noteworthy when the cameras weren’t there!

Were there any moments when you felt like pulling the plug?

No. That is my life and it’s important to see it as it is. When you look at social media, people only ever document the high points in their life. This is real life and it’s important for people to see that.