Katie Taylor was almost pulled out of world title fight

Katie Taylor [7(4)-0] won a maiden world title win last night in Cardiff – but the Bray lightweight was almost a late withdrawal from the card.

The Wicklow 31 year old claimed an exciting ten-round win over Anahi Sanchez to take the vacant WBA title on the Sky Box Office Joshua-Takam undercard, winning a 99-90 decision on all three cards.

Taylor almost had the fight over early, dropping Sanchez to the body in the second, but the brave Argentinian continued to fire back – and land plenty on the Irishwoman whose face was quite swollen afterwards.

Following what was a furious start, Taylor kept up the pace down the stretch and into the championship rounds for the first time in her career – a feat made all the more impressive following a post-fight admission from promoter Eddie Hearn.

The Matchroom boss revealed that Taylor had been ill in the build-up to the fight and that she had almost not featured on the bill at the Principality Stadium.

“I don’t know if Katie wanted to mention it – but she’s had, more or less, the flu for the last ten days,” he told IFL after the fight’s conclusion.

“It was like that whether she was going to fight, [but] he didn’t want to let the opportunity go.”

“She was fine the last couple of days, but the ten days before Wednesday or Thursday she had been really rough.”

“She wasn’t physically one hundred percent tonight, but what a win, world champion, I’m so proud of her. She’s such a great athlete.”

Watch Eddie Hearn’s interview with IFL TV in full below: