KATIE Taylor is sick of talking. There’s nothing left to say and she just wants to let her hands go back in that Dublin ring and avenge her loss to Chantelle Cameron last May.
There was a different vibe about yesterday’s final press conference. Taylor is on the brink – another loss to Cameron and that’s almost certainly it for her - and she knows it.
To turn the tables she has to make Saturday night’s rematch at the 3Arena about movement and skill, not punching power and strength, and the undisputed queen of Irish boxing says she’ll do exactly that.
“I have a second chance here and I just can’t wait to fight – whether I’m underdog or favourite, whoever walks to the ring first or second… All that stuff is irrelevant,” she said.
“I’m just excited and hungry and I can’t wait to step in there and perform the way I can. I understand this is a huge fight, a must-win fight for me.”
She says it’ll be “a completely different fight” than first time. At this stage of her career she’s not going to re-invent the wheel but she can certainly make improvements to the slow start and uncertain performance she produced in May when she was out-muscled by Cameron.
“I feel a lot better this time around,” she said.
“I’m ready to fight. I hate all the talk, I hate all these press conferences… There’s nothing (more) to say, I’m just ready to fight at this stage… I’m just ready.
“I’m always ready for whatever comes my way. I’m ready to dig deep – I put my body through the trenches week-in, week-out so I’m ready for these situations. I’m gonna be ready for whatever comes my way.”
Taylor’s warlike countenance was no surprise, but her trainer Ross Enamait’s chatty mood was. The American had been reluctant to talk at all during the press conference a few weeks ago but he was much more engaging this time and even cracked a joke with promoter Eddie Hearn.
“Losing sucks,” he said, and the Taylor camp don’t intend to sample it again.
“We’re in a much, much better place than we were last time around – a lot healthier,” said Enamait.
“There’s no pressure on us, nobody here thinks we’ve got a shot so we’re here to prove everybody wrong and we’re ready for the fight and looking forward to it.
“Losing sucks… nobody wants to be there. It was a long time since she had a loss - she’s always hungry and she’s definitely hungrier. We had a great camp and there’s not much else to do than show up Saturday and fight.
“It’s a rematch, they’ve seen each other before so there’s not gonna be much feeling-out, I’m sure they’re gonna get right into it. I’m sure they’re coming right after us but we’ll see on Saturday. I can tell you this: ‘We’re ready and we’re looking forward to it’.”
He compared Saturday’s fight to Bernard Hopkins’s win over Kelly Pavlik back in 2008. Hopkins was written off back then and then stunned the pundits with a comprehensive points win.
“It’s about getting in there and winning,” he said.
“We’re just here to fight. Like I said, a lot of people are writing us off and to me it feels a lot like when Hopkins fought Pavlik. At the end of that fight, Hopkins stood off the media and took a look at everybody. That’s what I’m expecting to do on Saturday.”
