Katie Taylor hoping to join exclusive club tonight
Katie Taylor [6(4)-0] challenges for her first professional world title tonight in Wales and, should she win, she will become the latest Olympic gold medalist to claim a major belt.
The Bray lightweight goes for the vacant WBA belt – which was stripped from opponent Anahi Esther Sanchez yesterday after the Argentine missed weight.
The bout takes place in the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, live on Sky Box Office as part of Anthony Joshua’s WBA-IBF heavyweight title defence against Cameroonian Carlos Takam.
Should she win, Taylor will become the 43rd Olympic gold medalist to win a pro word title and the fifth podium-topped from the London Games to do so after Vasyl Lomachenko, Claressa Shields, Oleksandr Usyk, and tonight’s headliner Joshua.
The list of previous Olympic gold medalists who became world champions is:
Frankie Genaro – USA
Antwerp 1920 – Flyweight
World Flyweight (1928-1931).
Fidel LaBarba – USA
Paris 1924 – Flyweight
World Flyweight (1925-1927).
Jackie Fields – USA
Paris 1924 – Featherweight
World Welterweight (1929-1930).
Pascual Perez – Argentina
London 1948 – Flyweight
World Flyweight (1954-1960).
Floyd Patterson – USA
Helsinki – 1952 Middleweight
World Heavyweight (1956-1959 & 1960-1962)
Nino Benvenuti – Italy
Rome 1960 – Welterweight
WBC/WBA Middleweight (1967 & 1968-1970)
Muhammad Ali
Rome 1960 – Light Heavyweight
World Heavyweight (1964-1967), WBC/WBA Heavyweight (1974-1978), WBA Heavyweight (1978-1979).
Joe Frazier – USA
Tokyo 1964 – Super Heavyweight
WBC Heavyweight (1968-1973), WBA Heavyweight (1970-1973).
George Foreman – USA
Mexico City 1968 – Super Heavyweight
WBC/WBA Heavyweight (1973-1974), IBF/WBA Heavyweight (1994-1995).
Mate Parlov – Yugoslavia
Munich 1972 – Light Heavyweight
WBC Light Heavyweight (1978).
Leo Randolph – USA
Montreal 1976 – Flyweight
WBA Super Bantamweight (1980-1980).
Sugar Ray Leonard – USA
Montreal 1976 – Light Welterweight
WBC Welterweight (1979-1980 & 1980-1982), WBA Welterweight (1981-1982), WBA Light Middleweight (1981-1981), WBC Middleweight (1987-1987), WBC Super Middleweight (1988-1990), WBC Light Heavyweight (1988-1988);
Michael Spinks – USA
Montreal 1976 – Middleweight
WBA Light Heavyweight (1981-1985), WBC Light Heavyweight (1983-1985), IBF Light Heavyweight (1984-1985), IBF Heavyweight (1985-1987);
Leon Spinks – USA
Montreal 1976 – Light Heavyweight
WBC/WBA Heavyweight (1978)
Patrizio Oliva – Italy
Moscow 1980 – Light Welterweight
WBA Light Welterweight (1986-1987).
Slobodan Kačar – Yugoslavia
Moscow 1980 – Light Heavyweight
IBF Light-Heavyweight (1985-1986).
Maurizio Stecca – Italy
Los Angeles 1984 – Bantamweight
WBO Featherweight (1989-1989 & 1991-1992).
Meldrick Taylor – USA
Los Angeles 1984 – Featherweight
IBF Light Welterweight (1988-1990); WBA Welterweight (1991-1992).
Pernell Whitaker – USA
Los Angeles 1984 – Lightweight
WBC Lightweight (1989-1995), IBF Light Welterweight (1992-1992), WBA Light Middleweight (1995-1995), WBC Welterweight (1993-1997), WBC/WBA/IBF Lightweight (1990-1992)..
Mark Breland – USA
Los Angeles 1984 – Welterweight
WBA Welterweight (1987-1987 & 1989-1990).
Frank Tate – USA
Los Angeles 1984 – Light Middleweight
IBF Middleweight (1987-1988).
Giovanni Parisi – Italy
Seoul 1988 – Featherweight
WBO Lightweight (1992-1993); WBO Light Welterweight (1996-1998).
Kennedy McKinney – USA
Seoul 1988 – Bantamweight
IBF Super Bantamweight (1992-1994), WBO Super Bantamweight (1997).
Henry Maske – Germany
Seoul 1988 – Middleweight
IBF Light Heavyweight (1993-1996).
Ray Mercer – USA
Seoul 1988 – Heavyweight
WBO Heavyweight (1991).
Lennox Lewis – Canada
Seoul 1988 – Super Heavyweight
WBC Heavyweight (1992-1994, 1997-1999 & 2002-2004), IBF/WBA/WBC Heavyweight (1999-2000). IBF/WBC Heavyweight (2000-2001 & 2001-2002).
Joel Casamayor – Cuba
Barcelona 1992 – Bantamweight
WBA Super Featherweight (2000-2002), WBC Lightweight (2006-2007).
Istvan Kovacs – Hungary
1992 Barcelona -Featherweight
WBO Featherweight (2001-2001).
Oscar De La Hoya – USA
Barcelona 1992 – Lightweight
WBO Lightweight (1994-1996), WBO Super Featherweight (1994-1994), IBF Lightweight (1995-1995), WBC Light Welterweight (1996-1997), WBC Welterweight (1997-1999 & 2000-2000), WBC Light Middleweight (2001-2003 & 2006-2007), WBA Light-Middleweight (2002-2003), WBO Middleweight (2004-2004).
David Reid – USA
Atlanta 1996 – Light Middleweight
WBA Light Middleweight (1999-2000).
Vasily Jirov – Kazakhstan
Atlanta 1996 – Light Heavyweight
IBF Cruiserweight (1999-2003).
Wladimir Klitschko – Ukraine
Atlanta 1996 – Super Heavyweight
WBO Heavyweight (2000-2003), IBF Heavyweight (2006-2016); WBO Heavyweight (2008-2016). WBA Heavyweight (2011-2016).
Guillermo Rigondeaux – Cuba
Sydney 2000 & Athens 2004 – Bantamweight
WBA Super Bantamweight (2012-2015 & 2016-2017), WBO Super Bantamweight (2013-2015)
Brahim Asloum – France
Sydney 2000 – Light Flyweight
WBA Light Flyweight (2007-2008).
Yuriorkis Gamboa – Cuba
Athens 2004 – Flyweight
WBA/IBF Featherweight (2010-2011); IBF Featherweight (2010-2011).
Andre Ward – USA
Athens 2004 – Light Heavyweight
WBA Super Middleweight (2009-2013); WBC Super Middleweight (2011-2013), WBA/WBO/IBF Light Heavyweight (2016-2017)
Zou Shiming – China
Beijing 2008 & London 2012 – Light Flyweight
WBO Flyweight (2016-2017)
Vasyl Lomachenko – Ukraine
Beijing 2008 & London 2012 – Featherweight & Lightweight
WBO Featherweight (2014-2016), WBO Super Featherweight (2016-)
James DeGale – Great Britain
Beijing 2008 – Middleweight
IBF Super Middleweight (2015- )
Oleksandr Usyk – Ukraine
London 2012 – Heavyweight
WBO Cruiserweight (2016-)
Anthony Joshua – Great Britain
London 2012 – Super Heavyweight
IBF Heavyweight (2016-), WBA Heavyweight (2017-)
Claressa Shields – USA
London 2012 & Rio 2016 – Middleweight
WBC/IBF Super Middleweight (2017-)
