Matt Macklin picks Katie Taylor as women’s boxing’s “#1 Superstar”

Katie Taylor [12(5)-0] is the ‘No. 1 superstar in women’s boxing’ according to Matthew Macklin.

Cecilia Brækhus is the ‘First Lady’ in both name and, most argue, nature considering she is as the undisputed welterweight champion of the world and has been standing out since she turned pro over a decade. 

Claressa Shields is another vaunted as pound-for-pound #1 having unified titles at two different weight classes, but former Irish and European champion Macklin is adamant Bray’s Taylor is the best there is in the female game. 

Speaking after the IBF and WBA lightweight champion put in a performance he labelled as ‘faultless’ against the game Eva Walhstrom in Madison Square Garden on Saturday ‘Mack The Knife’ reiterated his belief that the Bray woman is unparalleled.

“You talk about Brækhus, you talk about Claressa Shields, but for me Katie Taylor is the No. 1 superstar in women’s boxing,” said the former World Title challenger who was also managed by Brian Peters.

“How do you fault that performance?” he said of the 100-90 x3 unanimous decision win in New York.

While the Tipperary-Birmingham pundit was impressed with Taylor’s display on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez’s victory over Rocky Fielding, Macklin also took time to praise the Finish opponent.

The super featherweight world champ certainly didn’t shy away from the challenge brought by her former amateur foe and played her part in an entertaining, if slightly one-sided, fight.

“Absolute hats off to Walhstrom, she tried,” Macklin said on Sky Sports.

“When boxing wasn’t working, she came out and tried to meet Katie Taylor in the centre of the ring, and was aggressive.

“No matter what she did, though, Katie Taylor had an answer, and answered her back twice as much.”

“This girl, Katie Taylor, she’s just a phenomenal athlete, a special talent.”

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In terms of the women’s pound-for-pound list, just this year the Boxing Writers Association of American announced their inaugural Top 10.

Taylor, who has scored three wins since the release of the list, did not feature although did receive votes from the three-member panel.

The top three fighters – Brækhus, Amanda Serrano, and Layla McCarter – have all been spoken of as potential opponents for Taylor, as have Delfine Persoon and Canadian Jelena Mrdjenovich who are currently joint-sixth.

The BWAA Women’s Pound-for-Pound Top 10 (June 2018) is as follows:
1. Cecilia Brækhus (Norway) – Welterweight
2. Amanda Serrano (United States) – Super Flyweight
3. Layla McCarter (United States) – Welterweight
4. Claressa Shields (United States) – Middleweight
5. Yesica Yolanda Bopp (Argentina) – Light Flyweight
=6. Jelena Mrdjenovich (Canada) – Featherweight
=6. Delfine Persoon (Belgium) – Lightweight
=6. Kenia Enriquez (Mexico) – Light Flwyweight
9. Mariana Juarez (Mexico) – Bantamweight
=10. Daniela Bermudez (Argentina) – Bantamweight
=10. Naoko Fujioka (Japan) – Flyweight