Katie Taylor Steps Up Again
by Phil Woolever
A lot of boxing belt holders, whether women or men, keep saying that they always want to fight the very best of opponents.
Then for their next defense, they face off against some overmatched victim who has little, if any chance of winning.
WBA Champion Katie Taylor, 8-0 (4), is obviously different from that sad stereotype. After just eight pro bouts, she’s already well on her way to actually carrying out an admirably ambitious plan.
Taylor’s next fight, scheduled for April 28th at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, is a unification bout against rugged IBF titlist Argentinian Victoria Bustos, 18-4.
“My main priority right now is to unify the lightweight division, so I want to fight all the other champions and get my hands on all the belts as soon as possible,” Taylor told ThePrizefighters.com.
“I don’t pay too much attention to who is calling out who, to be honest. I just want to take on the biggest and best challenges so hopefully, all the other champions out there feel the same way and we can get those fights made.”
The payday and prestige a fight against Taylor represents means many women claim to be targeting her. Whether or not they really mean it could be another matter.
“We actually offered the fight to Delfine Persoon for April but her team didn’t want the fight until the end of the year,” explained manager Brian Peters about a prospective battle already making the rounds in Belgium media.
“I know that Persoon is a great champion and rated as one of the best pound for pound boxers in the world. That’s exactly why I want the fight and I’m sure it will be a great fight,” said Taylor.
“Katie only wants the biggest and best fights out there and one of her aims this year is to unify, so the Bustos fight is obviously the start of that. One thing you can be certain of is that Katie won’t be ducking anyone” promised Peters.
“I think beyond unification fights with Persoon and WBO champ Rose Volante there’s also big fights in the US against Amanda Serrano and Mikaela Mayer, or in Europe against the likes of Natasha Jonas, Chantelle Cameron, Malva Hamadouche and Eva Wahlstrom.”
“Last year was great for me but I’m not one for looking back and it’s all about the next challenge,” explained Taylor in a press release. “Bustos is one of the longest reigning champions in women’s boxing so I’m expecting a very tough fight.”
Bustos has no knockouts on her record, so expect a tactical rumble that should illustrate how slick Taylor is at this stage of her game.
“I’ve been back in training camp in Connecticut since the start of the month so the hard work has already started. I got a great reception at Barclays when I fought there last year so I’m really looking forward to boxing there again.”
For now, Bustos at Barclays is the next step in Team Taylor’s master plan.
In what’s already proved to be business as usual for Taylor, that step is another big one.