IBF champion confirms she has signed to face Katie Taylor in World Title Unification
Katie Taylor [8(4)-0] looks set to become only the third Irish fighter to attempt to unify World titles when she returns to the ring in April.
The Bray boxer will defend her WBA lightweight world strap in New York on Saturday April 28th, and a unification bout is in the offing.
Taylor will face IBF champion Victoria Noelia Bustos [18(0)-4(0)] of Argentina, and is in line become the third Irish fighter after Carl Frampton and Ryan Burnett to unify – with the Belfast duo also having brought together WBA and IBF belts.
While neither promoter Eddie Hearn or manager Brian Peters have officially announced the bout, it has been listed on boxing stat bible BoxRec and tonight Bustos confirmed to Women of Boxing that she has signed to face the Wicklow legend.
The pair will fight over 10 rounds for both belts on the undercard of Matchroom USA’s Brooklyn show which will be topped by two-time middleweight world title challenger Danny Jacobs.
Bustos is a veteran seven world title fights – winning five and losing two to her countrywoman Erica Anabella Farias – the current WBC light welterweight champ.
She has held the blue belt (IBF world title belts for women are blue in comparison to their red male counterparts) for almost four and a half years.
Incidentally, Taylor defeated Bustos’s nemesis Farias to claim the first of six World amateur titles in New Delhi as far back as 2006.
It had been hoped for an Irish feel to the card at the Barclays Centre – where Taylor fought last Summer – however, moves to make Spike O’Sullivan the headline opponent broke down and ‘The Miracle Man’ is now set to face undefeated Pole Maciej Sulecki.
Taylor won the WBA title back in October in Cardiff against Argentina’s recent reigning world champion Anahi Sanchez (who surrendered the belt on the scales) and would defend the strap less than two months later in London against American Jessica McCaskill.
The 31-year-old had been mooted to be set for an Irish homecoming in Dublin on April 14th. This bout, unfortunately, fell by the wayside and now Taylor’s third world title fight will take place in a third foreign country.
