‘She’s leaving it in the gym’ – Sky pundits raise Katie Taylor is ‘over trained’ concerns

Katie Taylor is leaving it the gym and doing damage by over training according to noted Sky Sports pundits Johnny Nelson and Matthew Macklin.

The undisputed lightweight champion trains in Connecticut stateside under the guidance of Ross Enamait and is noted for long camps.

The dedication and work ethic doesn’t seem to have hampered one of Ireland’s greatest ever sports people to date. She hasn’t put a foot wrong as a pro, going unbeaten since turning over in 2016 to become a two weight and undisputed lightweight world champion.

The 34-year-old may have shown she isn’t infallible during a close encouther of the boxing kind, against Delfine Persoon in July of last year, but it’s widely surmised the Bray natives desire to entertain and show she blessed in guts as well as the guile she is noted for, made that fight closer than it should have been.

There has been genuine and wider concern regarding the camp for the rematch, which takes place in Matchroom Headquarters on August 22.

The Bray sensation traveled to America early this year to ready herself for a May 2 Amanda Serrano clash. She remained in her base there and continued to train as that fight was pushed back twice. Serrano refused to agree terms for the second rescheduled date and thus Persoon comes in – and there are some concerns such a long stint away from home and in the gym may not be overly beneficial.

Speaking to Sky Sports former Macklin and Nelson expressed concern with regard to Taylor’s training in general.

It’s not sure as to what dept of knowledge either have with regard to details of her training schedule, but both feel she could be doing damage by the amount of time spent in the ring.

“I think she’s overtraining,” former world middleweight title challenge Macklin told Sky Sports. “I think she’s doing these too long, drawn-out camps and it’s taking it out of her.

“She’s leaving it in the gym, as they say, and she needs that bit of freshness, I feel.

“She’s just doing too much sparring for too long. The camps are just too long for her. She doesn’t blow up in weight so she doesn’t need these big, long camps and I think it’s taking away from her performance. She’s looking a little bit tired.

“And she’s getting older so you have to adjust how you do training as you get older and certainly less is more.”

Nelson echoed Macklin’s sentiments and warned Taylor that she might potentially be in danger of overdoing it in the gym.

Nelson said: “Katie spends most of her life in training camp, that’s where she feels most comfortable and most at home but that’s where a lot of the damage is done – in the gym.

“I’m not saying she’s getting hit in the head. What I’m saying is she’s working hard and it takes that freshness off.

“Brendan [Ingle] always said ‘I’d prefer you to undertrain than overtrain because when you undertrain, you’ve still got something left but when you overtrain, you’ve got nothing left.’

“This will always be a problem with Katie and now, it’s getting to that stage where she’s found wanting when she comes up against somebody who is long, awkward and unpredictable.”