Boxing:Olympic champion Katie Taylor has decided to stay in amateur boxing and hopes to defend her lightweight title in Rio in four years time. The 26-year-old from Bray has been in negotiations with the Irish Sports Council for the last number of weeks and part of her consideration had been the status of her father Pete, now rated as one of the top boxing coaches in the world.
Taylor announced her decision on the Ray D’Arcy Show on Today FM. “Boxing for my country, there’s nothing better than that really and bringing home medals for my country,” she said. “I’m going to stay amateur and hopefully I’ll defend my title in Rio in four years time.”
The Bray champion has had numerous offers to turn professional, with the contracts running in the “hundreds of thousands” of euro, but wants to add to her haul of four straight World Championships and five European titles before targeting Rio in four years.
“I don’t think a day went by that I didn’t think of being an Olympic champion when I was growing up,” she added.
Taylor conceded that the uncertainty of what the future might hold if she was to turn professional had a bearing on her decision, while her family were also concerned about her embarking on a career in a “completely different world”.
“The thing with professional boxing is you have to make sure you get the right promoter, the right fights and it is a cutthroat business as well,” Taylor said. “You have to make sure you have the right people around you to get those fights and you’re not guaranteed the best fights.
“In amateur boxing you’re just entered into a competition. To be the best, you have to beat the best in these competitions and there’s no waiting around to get the fights organised . . . to win an amateur world title is a lot harder than winning a professional world title.”