The hype train has screeched past its third stop.
Ireland’s Katie Taylor has just moved to 3-0 as a professional after putting an end to her super-featherweight meeting with Monica Gentili in the fifth round in London.
Taylor, one of the current roster favourites of promoter Eddie Hearn, stormed past her Italian opponent just moments before the heavyweight grudge match between David Haye and Tony Bellew.
Final warm up on the pads for @KatieTaylor ahead of her fight with Monica Gentili up next at @TheO2 . #HayeBellew pic.twitter.com/S44NVmfttW
— Brian Peters (@BPPboxing) March 4, 2017
Taylor turns 31 this summer and she’s wasting absolutely no time in making a splash in the minds of fight fans.
Taylor, a London 2012 gold medallist, abandoned the amateur scene amid the farcical scenes that marred boxing at Rio 2016 but she’s taken to the pro arena like a duck to water.
Third time proved just as charming as her opening pair of fights, with Taylor putting on one of the performances of her career in the O2 Arena.
She came out displaying typical composure and didn’t hesitate to set the pace as she set about her opponent by digging thudding hooks to Gentili’s body in the opening frame.
@KatieTaylor has every punch in the book! Vicious finish aswell! Pure class 🇮🇪☘️
— Jamie Conlan (@JamieConlan11) March 4, 2017
The second round saw Taylor continue to circle on the outside and pepper away with a glorious mixture of shots to the midsection and head.
There was a marked boost in aggression from Taylor in the third round and, while Gentili deserves all the credit in the world for plodding forward, Taylor was a class above throughout.
The finish was on and it arrived in the penultimate round as she uncorked a furious combination that clearly rocked Gentili.
There was no coming back.
https://twitter.com/Punchoutboxing5/status/838149716646977537
Taylor made her professional debut last November, when she dispatched Poland’s Karina Kopinska in three rounds, but judges were required in her second outing as a pro as she claimed a points victory over Viviane Obenauf in Manchester.
She was slated to fight on the undercard of Gennady Golovkin vs. Danny Jacobs at Madison Square Gardens on March 18th in a monster weekend of boxing in New York City.
A dispute between promoters meant that opportunity fell through but we don’t have long to wait to see Taylor again as she is set to fight on the undercard of Anthony Crolla’s Manchester clash with Jorge Linares in three weeks’ time.
We can’t bloody wait.
