Katie Taylor wants another test as world title looms
Katie Taylor [4(2)-0] does not want to dwell on her career-best win last night.
The Wicklow woman dominated recent IBF super featherweight title challenger Milena Koleva, in what was her first eight rounder, on the undercard of the Jorge Linares v Anthony Crolla WBA lightweight title fight at the Manchester Arena.
Facing the strongest opponent of her career thus far, the Bray lightweight was forced to pace herself, and shipped some shots, in a somewhat competitive contest – although she admittedly was well on top from start to finish.
A win which saw Taylor enter the lightweight Top 10 with rankings website BoxRec, the Irishwoman was delighted to see her career progress.
Speaking afterwards she said that “I definitely needed the eight rounds. That was a great, great contest for me against a very strong opponent. All credit to my opponent, she gave it everything she had.”
Taylor now wants further, and immediate, progression and outlined how “obviously we’re trying to progress fast so a good ten rounder I hope is next. Two or three fights and I hope to challenge for a world title, I definitely feel ready now.”
In terms of the roadmap for the amateur boxing legend, next up is another high-profile undercard appearance on the massive pay-per-view Anthony Joshua v Wladimir Klitschko bill at Wembley Stadium on Saturday April 29th. Due to time constraints, it is hard to envision Taylor having her ten round bout here.
What seems more likely would be a ten-round bout during the Summer, when Taylor is scheduled to cross the pond and make her American debut. This would most likely be for some sort of rankings title with any of the four major governing bodies.
This would then hopefully lead to a world title fight at the 3Arena in Dublin around September/October-time, although one more fight could be a possibility, especially if the mooted Stateside scrap is not of the level hoped for.
The current world champions relevant to Taylor are as follows:
WBC Lightweight – Delfine Persoon (Belgium) – 38(16)-1(1)
WBA Lightweight – Cecilia Comunales (Uruguay) – 14(9)-1(0)
IBF Lightweight – Victoria Noelia Bustos (Argentina) – 17(0)-4(0)
WBO Lightweight – Yohana Belen Alfonzo (Argentina) – 16(1)-2(0)
WBC Super Featherweight – Eva Wahlstrom (Finland) – 19(3)-0-1
WBA Super Featherweight – Hyun Mi Choi (Korea) – 13(4)-0-1
IBF Super Featherweight – Maiva Hamadouche (France) – 15(12)-1(1)
WBO Super Featherweight – Ramona Kuehne (Germany) – 25(10)-1(1)
Divisionally, Persoon and Wahlstrom would be generally accepted as the biggest names in their respective weights. Taylor holds amateur wins over Wahlstrom, most notably in the final of the 2005 European Championships, her first major medal.
