Earlier this week Katie Taylor had a face off with Saturday’s opponent Chantelle Cameron, the undisputed super lightweight world champion.
The two turned to each other and held the stare. The pre-bout set piece in professional boxing, designed to show discipline and aggression, but more often the sport’s eternal fascination with pantomime.
Taylor did it because it is part of the game, the overall package and part of her week’s work of pushing her homecoming bout, her first as a professional in Ireland. But don’t ask her to respect every promotional device.
“Face to face. Those things are nonsense to be quite honest,” she said on Thursday at her final press conference in Dublin Castle. “People ask me after, what did you see in her eyes? I didn’t see anything in her eyes. Do you ever see anything in their eyes when you are facing off.”
In no-nonsense mode as the week tapers towards the 3Arena on Saturday night – where Cameron’s belts will be on the line as Taylor moves up in weight – the fight can’t come fast enough.
Face offs and faux rancour are the theatrical side of being a professional that she understands but could do without. Dublin, too, has its comforts and there is almost overwhelming support for Taylor. But it may come with a cost.
“I guess we will see,” says Taylor. “This fight regardless of where it is has the makings of another epic. Stylistically, it is going to be fantastic. Very exciting fight.
“It is amazing when you are in there, all the crowd, all the noise, the only voice you focus on is your coach’s voice. It was like that in Madison Square Garden. I didn’t even notice the crowd around me. You are just focused on one voice. I think it will be the same on Saturday.”
There will be 8,000 there to mark the historical return, not just of Taylor to Ireland but of pro boxing to Dublin after barren years following the Regency Hotel in 2016.
The 37-year-old took centre stage on Wednesday at the open workouts in Dundrum Town Centre and invited schoolgirl Carly Burke into the ring, yet another gesture not part of boxing convention.
None of it, said Taylor, was pre-planned. This week, if anything, has been to show a softer interactive side to the sport.
“It is great to make an impact,” she said. “Even calling that girl into the ring yesterday. I think that made her day. I am really happy to do things like that.
“Just caught her eye. She kept waving up at me. I asked her, do you box? I called her into the ring. I was chatting to her after. I asked her what club she was in and she wasn’t part of a club. She looked like a very athletic young girl.”
Cameron, in fairness to the English fighter, seems every bit as composed as Taylor, partly because she has the psychological gain of fighting a smaller opponent. She too worked out on Wednesday outdoors and a few boos rang out from the crowd.
The boxer, who in another turn in life would have gone to university, got a degree and become a schoolteacher, but Cameron turned professional at 26 after just missing out on the 2016 Olympics.
“Yeah, I was close,” says Cameron. “The girl who got the gold medal, I beat her eight times, she beat me once. Amateurs was not for me.
“I actually never planned to turn professional. After the Olympics I didn’t know what I was going to do. Then Clarissa Shields, who went to the Olympics, turned professional and started boxing. I’d seen this opportunity for women. Katie Taylor and Clarissa Shields, they are trailblazers.”
Nor is the Cameron camp shy of playing the boxing game. Taylor has been involved in several close fights and won them all. Her meeting with Russia’s Sofya Ochigava in the 2012 Olympic final, Belgian Delfine Persoon in their first 2019 meeting and Amanda Serrano in New York have all been tight.
Cameron’s coach Jamie Moore was asked if they thought the only way to win is to stop Taylor or knock her down and get a few 10-8 rounds in their favour.
“The fact these questions are being asked by everybody here is understandable,” said Moore. “It is a concern, not just obviously for us but everyone is concerned. We have seen some really bad decisions over the last few years in boxing in general. I am not going to bang on about certain ones.
“Obviously it is an issue, but Chantelle can’t focus on that. All we can control is the stuff we are in control of and that’s it. We have got to hope and have faith in the judges that they make the right decision.”
Ring walk is expected around 10.30pm Saturday night.
