Headline NewsOpponent WatchSocial Media

Katie Taylor’s rivals respond to Kimberly Connor knockout


Katie Taylor [10(5)-0] retained her WBA and IBF lightweight titles last night but, with the greatest respect to Kimberly Connor, it was not a high-profile match-up.

The Texan veteran had challenged for world title honours unsuccessfully twice – one of which was a points loss to Victoria Noelia Bustos who was recently beaten by Taylor.

The Wicklow woman duly stopped Connor in the third round at the O2 Arena on the Dillian Whyte v Joseph Parker pay-per-view undercard and will now go straight into a defence versus recent WBO featherweight champ Cindy Serrano in Chicago on Saturday October 6th.

Beforehand, Taylor’s manager Brian Peters had lamented the lack of willing challengers for the Olympic gold medallist, and these comments did not go down well with the top names in the division.

Recent WBO super bantamweight champion Amanda Serrano [34(26)-1(0)-1], younger sister of upcoming challenger Cindy, responded angrily on Twitter.

The Puerto Rican five-weight champion chided Peters for his claims, noting on Twitter that she had asked for a Taylor fight and criticised the choice of Connor – whom she stopped in two rounds back in 2011.

Rick Ramos, the manager and trainer recent Taylor foe Jessica McCaskill [5(3)-2(0)], her toughest fight to date, also got involved, claiming that Natasha Jonas and Chantelle Cameron both wanted to fight Taylor last night.

Immediately following Taylor’s destructive performance, Cameron [7(5)-0] sent out a thinly-veiled Tweet stating that she will be “ready” and subsequently shared numerous responses calling for the fight.

The 27-year-old Barry McGuigan-managed fighter has reeled off two big wins this year, outpointing two-time world title challenger Myriam Dellal before becoming the first person to stop four-time challenger Natalia Vanesa Aguirre.

Jonas [6(5)-0], who is currently at super featherweight and set to face former Taylor foe Viviane Obenauf, was less confrontational.

Serrano then drew attention to her own win over Connor.

One fighter that won’t be looking for a Taylor fight in the near future is Top Rank’s Mikaela Mayer [6(3)-0].

The American has revealed that she will be stepping down to super featherweight but, like Jonas, she hopes to return to lightweight with a world title and, therefore, greater bargaining power for big fights.

dpg

logo may

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

x