Anthony Joshua hails Katie Taylor ahead of PPV appearance – “She’s a massive asset to this show”

Today in Manchester there was the undercard press conference for the Anthony Joshua v Eric Molina pay-per-view fight at the Manchester Arena on Saturday night. In addition, there was a special press conference, subsequently cut short due to flying furniture, between British heavyweight champ Dillian Whyte and former world title challenger Dereck Chisora.

Tomorrow, the main press conference for Anthony Joshua v Eric Molina will take place. The rationale for splitting the media work is a sound one, too many big personalities, more opportunity for headlines, and more focus on the IBF heavyweight champion when his top table comes around. However, Joshua will share the spotlight tomorrow afternoon with a certain super featherweight from Bray.

Katie Taylor [1(1)-0] who, like Joshua, claimed 2012 Olympic gold, has been given pride of place at the main press conference ahead of her second professional fight with Viviane Obenauf [9(4)-1(0)].

The choice further shows Matchroom’s high-level intentions with Taylor, and the Wicklow woman has a big fan in the stable’s current top dog.

Joshua heaped praise on the Irish fighter, and told IFL TV “look at her. Look at her personality, how she handles herself. Look at what she has done in the ring since the amateurs. It’s unbelievable. What she is about to do as a pro. You can just see the angels of the boxing arena shining their light down on her. As cheesy as that may sound.”

“She is phenomenal. She is one of the women that will take women’s boxing to the next level. I give all credit to her and I wish her all the success that she deserves. She’s a big asset to boxing. She’s a massive asset to this show. And it’s a real honour to be top of that, as well, with some of these fighters.”

“I would have gone down and watched her [debut] but because I’m in camp and that, I was just chilling out.”

Watch Anthony Joshua’s interview with IFL TV in full below: