Something about the girl – Taylor opponent Sharipova worries Hearn

There is something about Firuza Sharipova [14(8)-1(0)] that makes Eddie Hearn nervous.

The Kazakh is deemed a big underdog by the bookies and most in the game going into her world title fight with undisputed world lightweight champion Katie Taylor [19(6)-0] but the Matchroom boss is too worried to look past her.

The number of upsets that have happened this year, particularly on Matchroom cards, may be influencing the promoters thinking but having been around enough away corner fighters, Hearn knows what to look out for – and team Sharipova make him nervous.

The DAZN aligned fight maker says he knows the Kazakh hasn’t just come for the career-high paycheck and means business.

“The worrying thing is they’re taking it very seriously,” told respected Irish journalists Sean McGoldrick and Gavan Casey in Liverpool this week.

“You see a lot of people turn up, ‘Oh, thank you so much for the opportunity.’

“They’re like: ‘We have to get this right. We’re winning this fight and we can’t have anything get in the way of our preparation.’

“That’s a bit worrying. They’re not just here to make up the numbers,” he adds before revealing Taylor would be happy for Sharipova to put up a serious fight.

“And there’s a lot unknown about her. Like, if you watch her, she can punch, she’s quite unorthodox, very tough… I don’t know…

“She’s either just a solid fighter or really, really good and really dangerous. I hope it’s just the first one to be honest with you. Katie wants the second one!”

“But we just want to get through this fight and then, obviously, (Amanda) Serrano looms.”

If Taylor secures victory in the M&S Arena in Liverpool tonight she should face Serrano, in what’s being billed as the greatest female fight of all time in New York in April.

However, Hearn has warned Taylor against looking past tonight.

“It’s just that you see so many banana skins – non-stop now – where people are losing, because they’re thinking [beyond the fight in front of them].

“Katie’s not that kind of fighter, but it’ll certainly be a sigh of relief if her hand can get raised on Saturday and we can move forward to that Serrano fight,” he adds before admitting he is nervous.

“I just don’t know, really, what we’re up against and the whole thing seems quite strange; it feels like we’re up against this sort of country-backed fighter, who has come in on a mission to dethrone Katie. That’s what it feels like.

“Which is good: it means we’re going to get someone who’s coming to win. And there have been a lot of fights with Katie where you know that she is going to win those fights.”

Photo Credit Mark Robinson