Barry McGuigan may have something up his sleeve for Katie Taylor.
Such is the dominance of Katie Taylor that it feels like time is rarely carved out to appreciate her numerous successes. Triumph is a given when you’re the best in the world. So often the first question that gets asked after the Pride of bray’s hand gets raised is, ‘what’s next?’
For Eddie Hearn and Matchroom, the plan is clearly to propel her to the top. They want her record to remain pristine and want that trophy room to be overflowing. She’s already 9-0 and holds the IBF and WBA lightweight titles. Two belts down, two more to go.
Eventually, when the time is right, she will likely fight in an Irish stadium.
Was talking about @KatieTaylor in Cork the other day https://t.co/YdSDlGfbeH
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) May 26, 2018
The future?
Before Chantelle Cameron made her professional debut, Barry McGuigan was already talking about her as a potential opponent for Taylor. After starting out her pro career at super featherweight, the Cyclone Promotions fighter claimed the IBO lightweight belt in December 2017.
She defeated Viviane Obenauf to win the title, forcing the Brazilian to retire at the end of the sixth round. You may remember Obenauf as the other girl in Taylor’s sophomore pro bout. She ended up losing to Taylor on points in 2016.
Cameron is four years Taylor’s junior and has already racked up an impressive 6-0 record since turning pro last year. Although she is only new to the pro ranks, manager McGuigan already has his sights set on Taylor and 40-1-0-0 WBC queen Delfine Persoon for Cameron, as he told RingNews24.
“We’ll fight any of them, there’s none that we are concerned about. The great thing about Chantelle is she is 26-years-old and all these girls are older than her. The two that we are targeting, Persoon and Taylor, are 32 and 31 years of age. Chantelle is in her prime years and she’s getting better every day.”
McGuigan had some very kind words to say about Taylor the athlete, the person and the role model. However, he sees her as a beatable boxer.
“She was a great amateur and is a great pro. She’s a role model for women’s boxing. When she boxes there are signs in the ring that she is beatable. Everyone’s beatable; we’ve all got two arms and two legs.”
Nine pro boxers have tried and failed to beat Taylor. Will Cameron be the one to give the Irish star the test fans have been waiting for?
