There are plenty of options out there, but this one could well tempt Taylor and her team.
For Katie Taylor, Saturday night at the SSE Arena in London was a showcase to let the boxing world know she was back to her best. Miriam Gutierrez was in the role of lamb while Taylor, the undisputed women’s lightweight champion, carried out the slaughter.
Taylor recorded a knock-down, in the fourth round, but never managed the knock-out or stoppage. It was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect night, which saw two judges award her all 10 rounds and another, who surely drifted off at one stage, giving Taylor nine rounds to Gutierrez’ one.
After upping the ante, in her last fight out, to get the convincing win over Delfine Persoon that she didn’t manage in their first encounter, this was an altogether more routine victory. After her unanimous points win, which moved her to 17-0 in her professional career, Taylor told Sky Sports:
“People still haven’t seen the best of me. I’m going to improve. I’m going to get better and better.”
Taylor is jetting back to her base in Connecticut, USA but already plotting her next fight. The likes of Amanda Serrano and Cris Cyborg [the former UFC star] were mentioned as possible opponents, while Natasha Jonas [pictured below] could also be in the mix if Taylor wants to squeeze one more bout into 2020.
Robert De Niro and Natasha Jonas attend a photo-call for “Grudge Match” in 2014. (Photo by Dave M. Benett/WireImage)Jonas [9-1-1] is a former super featherweight world champion and has history with Taylor. The pair fought at London 2012, with the Irish boxer victorious in her Last 16 bout on the way to Olympic gold. As soon as the Sky interview with Taylor wrapped, host Anna Woolhouse turned to Jonas, who was on punditry duty. She commented:
“We expect so much of her every single time that when you have something like the Persoon fight, you think, ‘Oh, is she on the slide?’ Then she comes back with performances like that. She reminds me a bit of the older Nigel Benn. When he was hurt, he was at his most dangerous. That’s what she is like. When people doubt her and start to say one thing, she comes back and puts on a show like that.”
Asked if she would be interested in taking on Taylor in the near future, Jonas said:
“I think on some platforms on social media, she was actually calling me out, which is a little bit different from some of the boxers. Yeah, I mean who wouldn’t? She’s talking about legacies and especially for people in and around my weight division, she is the big fight and the big haul.
“She’s the one that everyone wants and she, like Terri Harper, is the one with a target on her back. And I’ve said before the Harper fight [this evening] that if you’ve got a title from 130 [lbs] to even 145, I’m coming!”
Johnny Nelson, who was on punditry duty alongside Jonas, said a Taylor vs. Jonas fight would attract a lot of hype and attention in the UK and Ireland.
“Would you not say that, commercially in the UK, Katie versus Natasha, why not? That’d be mad.
“I can remember watching her in 2012 [at the Olympics] and that was just bonkers. So I can imagine that type of an atmosphere starting all over again. They never tied down an opponent [after the Gutierrez fight] but Natasha’s name was thrown in there. To me, I think it’s a given.”
