24 December 2019

Katie Taylor eyeing up 'history-making fights' with Serrano, Persoon and Braekhus in 2020 and talks of headlining on pay-per-view

Undisputed lightweight boxing champion Katie Taylor has listed Cecilia Braekhus, Amanda Serrano and Delfine Persoon as her ideal opponents for 2020.

The 33-year-old Irish star picked up the fourth and final belt in the 135 pound division when she beat Persoon in June, before moving up to super lightweight in November and winning the WBO strap against Christina Linardatou.

And after completing what she set out to do when she turned professional, Taylor is now focused solely on the biggest and best fights possible.

Speaking to Sky Sports she said: "I just want to be involved in big fights really and there's so many possible opponents out there for me.

"There's the likes of Amanda Serrano, who's a seven-weight world champion - that's probably one of the biggest fights in boxing right now.

"Obviously the rematch with Delfine Persoon and there's a possibility of stepping up another weight class and fighting Cecilia Braekhus, who's another undisputed champion.

"So you can imagine, undisputed champion against undisputed champion, these are history-making fights."

Norwegian Braekhus is unbeaten in 12 years as a pro and currently holds a record of 36 wins from 36 fights.

She became the undisputed champion in the welterweight division way back in 2014 and has gone on to defend the crown ten times.

However, the 38-year-old campaigns at 147 pounds, so it is likely the bout with Taylor would happen at a catchweight, something the Bray-born Olympic gold medalist admits she will have to brace herself for. 

"It's a fight where I'm going to have to build myself up to I think," added Taylor.

"I'm obviously naturally a lightweight fighter, even though I stepped up to light-welterweight in the last fight, I make lightweight very, very comfortably, so it is a fight that's going to take time I think.

"But it is absolutely a history-making fight… undisputed champion against undisputed champion, I don't think that's ever been done before, so that will be a very, very special fight."

A clash between the two, who hold ten belts between them across three weight divisions, could well headline a pay-per-view event.

And Taylor feels even talking about the idea of a women's fight headlining a major PPV event shows just how far females have come in the sport from the early days of Jane Couch.

"That would be absolutely incredible," she said. "Who would have thought that three years ago when I did turn pro that I was actually going to be in this position where we're actually talking about these big pay-per-view events?

"When I did turn pro those years back, I didn't even know if it was really the best move financially for me, or the best move for my career at all.

"To see the support and to see how far women's boxing has come in such a short period has actually been incredible and it was definitely the best move of my career."

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