Katie Taylor: Now is not the time to talk about a potential fight with ‘incredible’ Kellie Harrington
Katie Taylor says she will talk about a potential Golden girl match-up and fighting Kellie Harrington when the time is right – and if indeed the Dubliner decides to enter the pro ranks.
The London 2012 Olympian was pushed on a massive all Irish Olympic gold medal winner showdown today but rather than line up a payday with Harrington, she preferred to heap praise on the star who followed in her footsteps.
Toyko Olympic gold medal winner, Harrington is currently enjoying some downtime whilst weighing up future options, she has yet to make the Paris or pros choice.
If Ireland’s third-ever Olympic boxing gold medal winner was to sign one of the many promotional offers put her way at present she would most likely compete in the lightweight division, which is dominated by undisputed champion Katie Taylor.
As a result, the pair would constantly be linked. In fact, although some in Ireland may prefer not to see it, it would instantly become one of the biggest fights possible in the realm of female boxing.
Since returning home from Japan Portland Row’s Harrington has been keen to enjoy her hard-earned success and deflect from future talks – in keeping with that approach the darling of Dublin has deliberately played down any Taylor links.
Unbelievable @Kelly64kg! All that hard work paying off, well deserved. 👊 https://t.co/QLGpyMbOYe
— Katie Taylor (@KatieTaylor) November 24, 2018
Taylor took a similar approach when asked about a possible match-up on a media call ahead of her DAZN broadcast, Matchroom promoted, Leeds, hosted Jennifer Han fight this Saturday.
The pound-for-pound pro star didn’t pour cold water on a potential meeting but pointed out she has more immediate threats to worry about – and preferred to praise her fellow Olympic gold medal winner and Irish favourite on her success.
” A fight between me and her? I don’t know! I guess if she decides to go pro, we can talk about that but for the time being, I have my own opponents to focus on,” female fighting’s leading light said on Tuesday.
Katie Taylor’s journey to boxing stardom is unlike any other 👏 pic.twitter.com/0ZUsQcjWoI
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) August 30, 2021
Taylor’s barrier-breaking career has long since been held up as one of the main reasons women’s boxing is so strong in Ireland. The Bray native has proved an inspiration to the unique generation of emerging and indeed emerged talent making an impact today.
The now pro game changer and one of Ireland’s greatest ever sports stars believes Harrington has played a similar role over the years and believes her Tokyo success will have a massive impact.
“Kellie’s success over the last few years has been absolutely phenomenal, especially for the kids in inner-city Dublin,” Taylor adds.
“What she’s doing for those kids, inspiring that generation, is absolutely phenomenal and it’s very special. The young girls growing up actually watching Kellie win that gold medal you have no idea what it’s actually gonna do for kids in that area,” the world champion continues before revealing she was ‘glued’ to Olympic proceedings.
“I was obviously the proudest person in the world watching all the Irish athletes compete and perform. To see her victory was absolutely phenomenal, such an honour fighting for your country in the Olympic Games. There’s nothing better really than bringing so much pride to your country. I was glued to the whole Games throughout. Just to see her compete and perform at the highest level and perform so well was absolutely incredible. “
