Katie Taylor’s next step into the world of professional boxing will be a bigger challenge than her first and in front of a bigger audience again.
She will be on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s World Title defence in Manchester on December 10th where she will take on Viviane Obenauf of Brazil who beat Taylor’s first professional opponent Karina Kopinska in her most recent fight.
Of ten bouts in the professional ranks Obenauf has only lost once, to recently crowned World featherweight champion Vissia Trovato.
Coverage for the fight is already ramping up with news of the match up featuring on the BBC and live TV on the night confirmed again for Sky Sports.
The line up of sponsors for the bout is the same as for the first, all being part of Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom stable with the most interesting being that of William Hill.
Taylor’s strong religious beliefs had always meant there were areas of sponsorship that she would not go and gambling was one of those but things are now less in her own control.
There is growing talk of a World Title challenge taking place in Dublin, perhaps as early as 2017 though the fight game has its usual mix of some fact and lots of hyperbole. Hearn spoke after the first fight on Saturday about stepping up ambitions from the 3 Arena to Croke Park as a potential venue.
She certainly has an enduring appeal among the Irish public but whether that would stretch to filling Croke Park where even Mohammed Ali fell short on numbers would be a big stretch.
