Not since the beginning of her amateur career, when she exploded onto the scene to win her first of five European championships in 2005, has Katie Taylor not been favourite to emerge as the winner in any fight, but the odds are against the Irish boxer in her fight against Puerto Rican-American Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday morning. Taylor is unconcerned, says she is feeling in "great shape" is ready to "make history".
Our man Johnny Watterson is over in the US covering the event at the famous venue. He writes: "If you make it to the big stage in the Garden, you never fail to capture attention, own midtown Manhattan for a night. In sport a performance in the cathedral inevitably holds a magisterial command and position in the city."
Today's subscriber-only piece is from former Galway hurler and new columnist Joe Canning who writes that GAA can learn from rugby's model on refereeing when it comes to communication. He writes that you can accept decision making easier when referees explain their decisions in real time and there is nothing worse that a referee that turns his back to you and doesn't say anything. Former Tipperary star Pádraic Maher is impressed by "comfortable" Clare, who look like a team that are going to be hard to beat in the championship. Meanwhile, Dublin footballers are ready to face the fear of stepping outside their comfort zone, says Alan Brogan, as he recalls the early 2000s when Dubs were prey to all sorts of shocks in Leinster.
In soccer, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 17th Premier League goal of the season as Manchester United drew 1-1 with Chelsea as West Ham and Rangers both lost their first leg ties in the Europa League against Eintracht Frankfurt and RB Leipzig respectively. In her column today, Lisa Fallon writes about coaching that "it'll only be alright on the night, if it was already alright on the training pitch", that in the heat of battle, players will always default to the standard of their training. One manager that is growing on the job is St Pat's Athletic coach Tim Clancy, who says career paths for everyone are different.
On the final day of the Punchestown festival, Brian O'Connor writes that most winning streaks eventually end, although it will be a stunning reversal if it happens to Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore at Punchestown on Friday. The National Hunt racing's poster-partnership unbeaten in 15 ahead of Champion Hurdle. Yesterday, Klassical Dream proved a Grade One spoilsport at Punchestown, denying Robbie Power a fairytale result on the day he announced his retirement.
