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CONFIRMED: World Title fight for Katie Taylor – Date, Venue, and Opponent

Katie Taylor [6(4)-0] will fight for her first pro world title next month.

A five-time world champion in the amateurs, it has been confirmed this afternoon that the Bray lightweight will fight Anahi Esther Sanchez [17(9)-2(1)] of Argentina for the WBA World Lightweight title at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday October 28th.

The fight will be shown live on Sky Sports Box Office as part of the Anthony Joshua v Kubrat Pulev undercard.

Sanchez only became the champion on Saturday, winning an all-Argentinian bout with Cecilia Sofia Mena in San Miguel, stopping her opponent on cuts in the sixth round to claim the vacant belt

The win saw ‘La Indiecita’ become a two-weight champion, having previously held the IBF super featherweight title.

Taylor’s promoter Eddie Hearn announced the fight this lunch-time at a press conference in Cardiff.

31 year old Taylor moved into pole position for the WBA title in May when she stopped Nina Meinke in the seventh round at Wembley Stadium to claim the organisation’s Inter-Continental belt and the #1 spot in the WBA’s rankings

The world title opportunity comes less than a year after Taylor’s pro debut.

An Irish homecoming world title shot in November had been Hearn’s initial plan, but this has been put on the backburner, with the Essex promoter preferring a first defence in America before the end of the year and then a homecoming at the 3Arena in Dublin on St Patrick’s Day.

It will be the third world title fight for an Irish boxer in the space of a month. Cork-Cuban cruiser Mike Perez challenges WBC champ Mairis Briedis in Latvia on Saturday September 30th, while Belfast bantam Ryan Burnett seeks to unify his IBF title with the WBA belt of Zhanat Zhakiyanov at the SSE Odyssey Arena on Saturday October 21st.

Also on the bill in just under seven weeks time, Kal Yafai defends his WBA super flyweight title against Sho Ishida, former Celtic Warrior Frank Buglioni puts his British light heavyweight title on the line against Commonwealth champ Callu Johnson, Dave Allen takes on Lenroy Thomas in a rematch for the Commonwealth heavyweight title, and Welsh super featherweight Joe Cordina features.

gym trition

frayne carpentry

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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