Lessons at the school of hard knocks
Boxing champion Katie Taylor is not afraid to show her vulnerable side in a documentary that is released this week, writes Aine O’Connor
SOMETIMES you’re so busy just getting through difficult times that you don’t realise how hard they are, only hindsight gives that perspective. What Ross Whitaker’s documentary Katie shows is that even trailblazing champions have bad times and that kind of honesty is what Katie Taylor wanted from this intimate portrait.
Whether by chance or not, filming began when Katie was at her lowest ebb and her openness about what she is feeling gives real depth to the already fascinating story of her remarkable drive and success. To paraphrase her manager; everyone knows Katie Taylor, but no-one really knows Katie Taylor.
The Bray Bomber seems tinier than a boxing champion should, her lovely face is make-up free and shows no signs of the sport she has been mistress of for two decades. As she sits with Ross Whitaker to discuss their film, she is earnest, sweet and engaged, everyone is resoundingly charmed. Ross has made four films about boxing, he relishes both the drama inherent in it and the dedication — and Katie knew his work, she’d been to see Saviours several times and felt she could trust him.
Filming began in November 2016. “It was a strange time to start it,” Katie says, “It was probably the lowest point of my life after the Rio Olympics. I think I had such confidence in myself that I could grow up and become a world champion again and I think it was important for people to see the highs and lows of life. So it is a very real documentary and I hope it does inspire people and encourage people.”
The film tells the story of a tightknit family in Bray, Co Wicklow, of a shy but determined little girl who was skilled in a number of sports. Her father Pete was Irish light heavyweight champion in 1986, the year Katie was born, and when he built a makeshift training area in the back garden, Katie knew she had found her calling. It was not a sport for girls so Katie had to put her hair in a hairnet under her helmet to fight boys. She got that rule changed. Then she got a few more changed too, her success was instrumental in getting women’s boxing sanctioned in Ireland and in the first ever official fight 15-year-old Katie beat Alanna Audley.
She is modest on the trailblazing theme, citing the unwavering support from her family, “My Mam was the first female boxing judge in the country so I think I continued on with her pioneering spirit!” Her mother Bridget is with her today and like Katie’s sister and two broth-
ers, features in the documentary. Bridget remembers six-year-old Katie standing on a chair in the kitchen pretending it was a podium to accept an Olympic medal. Cue the next set of rules to be changed, getting women’s boxing recognised as an Olympic sport. It’s one thing to win in a category that already exists, another to have to make the category so you can win it.
“Katie has always been overcoming things,” says Ross, “It has become normal to her to have barriers in front of her which men don’t have and to continue to do that has become Katie’s reality. And she is still doing that in the pro game. What’s happening in women’s boxing now is incredibly exciting and again Katie is at the forefront.”
Katie laughs, but she concedes that boxing in front of the Olympic Committee was a huge moment for her because it would determine that the sport was recognised for the Games. And having got it recognised she went on to win the gold medal in 2012, becoming the first ever Olympic female lightweight champion.
In the documentary the family talk about the breakdown of the parents’ marriage. Her father Pete, who had been Katie’s trainer and mentor since the beginning, stopped being her trainer and in the film she speaks of her enormous loss at not having him in her corner, describing how she cried on the way to her first training session without him.
There is a real sense of her grief and then of her utter devastation at losing in the first round of the Rio Olympics in 2016. This was where filming started.
“Looking back on it now I think ‘How did I even get through that time? But it is only in retrospect that you realise that was really, really tough. At the time you’re going through it day by day, doing what you have to do and just trying to get on with things and that’s it. After the Rio Olympics I had to think long and hard about what I was going to do.”
A few months in Connecticut with trainer Ross Enamait saw her decide to turn professional and within a month she had her first fight but again there were obstacles, not least that it was hard to get opponents. But this is Katie Taylor and more obstacles have been overcome.
Moving to America proved lonely but in many ways she feels it was the first time she ever really made her own decisions, “I really had to stand on my own two feet for the first time. It was a tough time for sure but I knew that moving over to America and starting this new journey, sometimes you have to make big sacrifices to make dreams. I definitely wouldn’t be the person that I was if I didn’t have to go through all that.”
Yet for all her drive and success there is a sense that Katie is never quite good enough for herself. “My Mam is always worried about that aspect because she says you have to enjoy the moment and enjoy the victories. And I definitely do enjoy the victories but I never come out of the ring thinking that was a great performance. There’s loads of room for improvement, I should have done this better or that better and I think that is part of the drive. I want to be the best that I can be. I am proud of what I have achieved but I feel like I am only getting started.”
Another part of her drive is her religious faith. Raised a Pentacostalist by her mother she describes her faith as “Probably the most important part of my life really. I obviously knew growing up that God had a great plan for my life, boxing felt like a gift that God has given me and I want to make the most of this gift and to honour God in everything that I do”.
Ross mentions her perfect athlete’s mentality of always looking ahead, just focusing on the next fight but not getting distracted by looking too far ahead. Still, does she wonder what she will do after? “That’s a good question,” she laughs. “I don’t like putting a limit on things, I feel fitter and stronger than ever and that could be the case in five years time as well. But yeah, I do have to think about that!”
‘After the Rio Olympics I had to think long and hard about what I was going to do’