Tonight in Manchester Katie Taylor reaches a pinnacle of sorts. Sharing the bill with IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua at the Manchester Arena in front of 21,000 fans and live on Sky Box Office could be construed as boxing success. All after one professional bout.

Tonight Taylor is out to crack audiences, to promote Katie and evangelise the brand that as an amateur was often unseen and self-contained.

She moved between World Championships and Olympics Games silently and without fuss. We believed in Katie because we were told about her and we saw the medals stack up – so many of them that we knew she must be special. All of them earned largely out of sight.

This week you could see it in her eyes. All the good things and bad things are in her eyes. In Rio, in her despair we saw more than we wanted. After Karina Kopinska they brightened. This week they narrowed.

In a weird way Taylor is a weathervane for the national disposition. If she is content we are too and when she is not, we feel it. We are hooked.

But Saturday tonight is a boxing show that will go to the US. She is on the card to large it up. Big lights, big audience and big expectations. After one fight that lasted less than five minutes against Kopinska in Wembley two weeks ago, Eddie Hearn believes Taylor will hold the attention of a boozy crowd in Manchester.

Tap dancing

There are people who will refuse to see it for what it is and the house will draw comparisons. It's where Taylor's tap dancing and singing are as important as the speed of her left jab against Brazilian-born Viviane Obenauf. She has to bust some moves.

“People like entertainment and people like boxing so I think we’re covering the full package – both the WWE [World Wresting Entertainment] part and the old-school fighting part,” said Joshua at a press conference this week. “I could sit here and say I will knock Eric [Molina] out in a round but that’s not my style.”

It is not Taylor’s style either and in their ways, the two boxers have similarities. Both are gold medal winners from London 2012. Both are using tonight to get closer to more meaningful world titles.

Joshua's opponent, the 34-year-old Texan Molina is a stepping stone towards a showdown against Wladimir Klitschko next year. Taylor's path, although uncertain, has a processional, inevitable feel. Already she has reawakened her world champion aura, shaken off the vulnerability that stalked her all year as an amateur.

But tonight’s Brazilian-born, Swiss resident comes with a more snappy record (9-1) than the hapless Karina Kopinska. The 30-year-old is the same age as Taylor and they share the fact that they’ve both beaten Kopinska.

There is little to be learned there. Obenauf beat the Pole by unanimous decision in October. Katie demolished her in November.

Unbeaten

Obenauf’s only defeat came against Italy’s unbeaten Vissia Trovato, when she lost on a decision in December of last year. She has had three fights this year, two of them decisions and one KO. But this will be her first bout outside of Switzerland.

“I can’t wait to fight in Manchester,” said Taylor, who won all of her amateur titles outside of Ireland. “Boxing in front of 21,000 is a new experience for me.”

Each fight with the smaller gloves and no head protection is a new experience. A heavy punch landing and her survival instincts on a bad night, which will surely come, is more experience.

But the Manchester Arena will be a bigger deal for Obenauf, who has only fought in smaller Swiss venues. Taylor's London Olympics, especially her fight against Britain's Natasha Jonas and the final against Sofya Ochigava, put her in a small space with loud noise. That's all in her locker.

But Obenauf has promised Taylor “heavy hits”.

“I heard a bit about it but you want those kinds of fights,” said Taylor.  “I want a bit of a tougher challenge. She’s obviously coming here to win, but so am I.”

The third bout on the card is a catchweight contest between 130lb super featherweight and 135lb lightweight.