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‘Very hard to say yes now’ – Robbie Keane on Katie Taylor being Ireland’s greatest sports star

Katie Taylor is up there with the best Ireland has produced, but may have to wait until she retires before officially being crowned as Ireland greatest ever sports star.

That’s the view of Ireland’s greatest ever goal scorer Robbie Keane.

Ireland’s top international goal scorer, Keane was full of praise for the one of boxing’s leading names in a unique interview with Sky Sports, but wouldn’t stretch as far as to confirm the Bray native, a former Irish football international herself, as the greatest.

There was an element of playing with a straight bat by former Coventry, Wolves, Inter Milian, Leeds, Spurs and Liverpool striker, although ‘Keano’ believes we have to wait until the Olympic gold medal winner, five time world amateur champ and undisputed lightweight world champion has finished boxing before judgement is passed.

“I think she is up there. It’s very hard to yes now because I thinks it’s when you finish playing or fighting,” Keane told Sky Sports.

“We have been very lucky in this country, we’ve had a lot of people that have been successful either here or overseas. It would be very harsh to pick one because there are so many, but certainly she is on the road to doing that.

“When you finish people look at it then. Will she be up there? Of course she has done incredible so far, but it’s very very difficult to say at this moment whether she will be the greatest.”

Keane was speaking in the lead up to Taylor’s eagerly anticipated rematch with Delfine Persoon.

You can watch the full interview below:

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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