Why does no one want to fight World Champion Katie?
Prospect of a bumper payday isn’t enough to tempt top contenders to face the phenom of women’s boxing
EDDIE HEARN got rather excited following Katie Taylor’s destruction of Kimberly Connor in London’s O2 Arena this past July. The loquacious promoter told the watching television audience that Bray’s golden girl, one of his most-prized assets, is one of the biggest stars in the entire sport and will become a global superstar.
Next Saturday in Boston will test those credentials. The Massachusetts State Athletic Commission’s decision last Tuesday to refuse controversial WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders a boxing license has ensured the spotlight shining on Taylor will be that little bit brighter when she defends her IBF and WBA lightweight titles against Cindy Serrano.
Saunders, who claimed the WBO strap off Andy Lee back in December 2014, was supposed to face mandatory challenger Demetrius Andrade in the main event at the TD Garden. However, the British fighter’s failed drugs test for the performance-enhancing stimulant oxilofrine (Saunders blamed a nasal decongestant) means Andrade will now face Namibia’s Walter Kautondokwa for the title, which has been stripped from Saunders.
The card in Boston is the latest shot fired by Hearn and Matchroom in boxing’s most fascinating turf war. Having become the top promoter on this side of the Atlantic, thanks to his association with Anthony Joshua, Hearn has got Bob Arum and Al Haymon in his crosshairs as he flexes his muscles in the United States.
Hearn is not someone who ever hides his ambition. He has talked about becoming the top promoter in America within six years and has the backing of a $1billion eight-year deal with DAZN (pronounced Da Zone), a streaming service that wants to become the ‘Netflix and Spotify of sport’.
Under the DAZN deal, Matchroom are putting on 16 cards annually in the State for subscribers. It is a bold venture, although the timing couldn’t be better with HBO’s recent announcement that they are pulling out of boxing at the end of the year after more than four decades.
Taylor, it seems, is set to play a significant role in Hearn’s grand plan of conquering America. Even before Saunders, who has made a few inflammatory comments about women’s boxing in the past, was embroiled in his latest controversy, she was given equal prominence to the former middleweight champion on the promotional poster.
This is a significant test of Taylor’s ability to sell a card in the United States. Even though her team have said the right things about a possible homecoming bout in the 3Arena, the security concerns surrounding professional boxing in Dublin mean it was always a nonrunner. Hearn always saw her future on the other side of the Atlantic, specifically Boston, New York and Chicago.
The promoter is clearly conscious that this card is taking place in Boston, though, as there is some decent Irish talent on the undercard. Belfast’s James Tennyson faces Tevin Farmer for the IBF super-featherweight title (it is the first night that two Irish fighters will be involved in world title bouts on the same night) while affable Wexford heavyweight Niall Kennedy is on the undercard, defending his NABF belt. Pro boxing is in a weird place in Ireland, at present. There are three reigning world champions in Taylor, Ryan Burnett and TJ Doheny and perhaps, there will be a fourth in Tennyson.
Dennis Hogan, the Naas native based in Australia, has worked his way into world title contention at super-welterweight. Donegal’s Jason Quigley is expected to continue his rise through the middleweight rankings, carefully managed by Golden Boy promotions, this Thursday in California.
And while you will hear little about it in the Republic because of the absurd MTK media ban, Michael Conlan will have his ninth professional bout in Las Vegas on the same evening that Taylor and Tennyson will be delighting the crowd in Boston.
All the while, the sport is embroiled in controversy after controversyat home. Gifted fighters are still being produced, but their climb through the rankings has to take place away from these shores.
Hearn sees Taylor as the spearhead. When Matchroom announced their DAZN deal to great fanfare during the summer, Taylor was one of the fighters who was sitting alongside the promoter at the press conference. At every turn during her previous 10 pro bouts, Hearn has talked up the Bray native as someone who will take female professional boxing to the next level.
To do that, they need to find serious opponents. Serrano is a tough customer but this match was made with an eventual showdown with her younger sister, Amanda, who has won world titles in six different divisions, in mind.
That showdown may still happen, although Amanda announced last week that she was stepping away from boxing to focus on mixed martial arts, as there was more money in that.
That decision led Ross Enamait, Taylor’s trainer, to tweet that she was running sacred of his fighter. And that seems to be Taylor’s biggest problem. Even with the promise of the biggest purses in women’s boxing, her main rivals simply don’t want to face her.
Delfine Persoon, the WBC lightweight champion from Belgium, is considered one of the best female pound-for-pound fighters in the pro ranks. But she has been lukewarm about the prospect of facing Taylor in a title unification bout even though, according to insiders, she has been offered six times the amount of money she has ever earned before in her 40-fight professional career. A showdown with Taylor will also mean moving out of her comfort zone. Persoon has only ever fought outside her native Belgium once – in Switzerland. If she fights Taylor, it will likely be in New York or Boston or perhaps Wembley Stadium in April, on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s prospective heavyweight title unification bout with Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury.
Rose Volante is another option. She is the WBO lightweight champion and recently defended that title with a dominant win in her native Sao Paolo over Colombia’s Yolanda Franco. Taylor has made no secret of her wish to unify the lightweight division. She would be only the second female boxer in history to hold all four belts – Norwegian legend Cecilia Braekhus completed that feat at welterweight earlier this year.
The problem with Volante – and this is significant given DAZN and Matchroom’s desire to create narratives around fights – is that she does not speak English. Taylor might not go in for trash-talk, but having an opponent willing to talk up their own prospects has never harmed any fight promotion.
In that regard, Jessica McCaskill was the perfect opponent when she faced Taylor in London’s York Hall last December. McCaskill, an investment banker from Chicago, gave Taylor a bit of bother, especially in the middle rounds, and she has built on her performance that night to claim the WBO super-lightweight title in Matchroom’s first American card in Chicago a few weeks ago. And of course, she called Taylor out after it.
‘A re-match with Jessica is a possibility at some stage in the future, but Katie has other things to do first,’ her manager Brian Peters explained this week. ‘Persoon,
‘THIS IS A TEST OF WHETHER SHE CAN SELL A FIGHT CARD IN AMERICA’