Fighter of the year candidate Katie Taylor out for fourth win of 2018 on Canelo-Rocky undercard

NEW YORK — Boxing’s Fighter of the Year is probably going to be a landslide victory for Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian went 3-0 during the year, unifying the cruiserweight titles and then making a defense of the undisputed crown for good measure.

But if anyone is to give Usyk a run for top honors in 2018, it is Katie Taylor, the IBF-WBA women’s lightweight champion and the 2012 Olympic gold medalist. Taylor is already 3-0 in the year, all coming in title fights and against opponents with a combined record going into their bouts of 58-12-5.

Taylor had a knockout and won two decisions in those fights, and fought 22 rounds in which judges had to turn in a score. Given three judges per fight, there were 66 rounds that were scored in Taylor fights in 2018.

Going into Taylor’s title defense Saturday at Madison Square Garden against unbeaten Eva Wahlstrom, she won 62 of them. That’s Mayweather-like dominance against elite opposition.

Taylor is a minus-1400 favorite to retain the belts. If she does, she has huge things in mind.

Boxing isn’t as big in the U.S. as it is in Ireland and the U.K., but Taylor is doing her part to change that. She’s one of the sport’s best, and most exciting fighters and is willing to take on all comers.
“Fights that mean something and that have significance within the division and in the sport, those are the kinds of fights I want,” Taylor said.

If she wins on Saturday, she wants to unify the belts against WBC champion Delfine Persoon, who is 42-1 and WBO champion Rose Volante, who is 14-0.

That would be a big feat in and of itself, but Taylor and manager Brian Peters hope it would include a bout with Amanda Serrano and then culminate with a catchweight showdown with Cecilia Braekhus. Braekhus is the undisputed welterweight champion who is regarded as the top pound-for-pound women’s fighter in the game.

“Look, when you see those pictures of Usyk with all the belts, it’s something that sticks in your mind,” Peters said. “Katie isn’t that far away from getting there and that’s the kind of thing we’d like to do.”
Assuming both keep winning, that would pit two undisputed champions against one another, likely with pound-for-pound recognition at stake (though middleweight champion Claressa Shields will have a say in that).

It doesn’t get much more significant than that.

“There’s never been a better time to be a woman in the boxing business, because there are so many good fights out there and I think the money is going to come,” Peters said.

Shields is helping to break down barriers and her ratings on Showtime have been encouraging, but an HBO show in Carson, California, last week that featured Shields and Braekhus in separate bouts bombed at the box office. It sold next-to-no tickets and the television rating was one of the lowest in the 45-year history of HBO boxing.

Taylor, though, is as fan friendly as they come and the next boring fight she’s in will be her first.

Perhaps the lack of knockouts in women’s boxing is a factor in the lack of interest in the U.S. Taylor is 11-0 with five knockouts and Wahlstrom is 22-0-1 with just three knockouts. Combined, that’s eight knockouts in 34 fights, a KO percentage of 23.5 percent.

It permeates through the sport. Braekhus is 35-0 with nine knockouts. Shields is 8-0 with two knockouts. Persoon is 42-1 with 17 knockouts. Between those three pound-for-pound greats, there are just 27 knockouts in 86 fights, a percentage of 31.4 percent.

Whatever it is, it’s head scratching, but Taylor has the kind of old-school, offensive style that should please even the toughest critics.

“Anyone who has seen me fight knows what to expect: I’m going to be aggressive and throwing punches,” Taylor said. “It’s the way I fight. It’s the way I love to fight.”

And it’s the kind of fight that fans of all nationalities can appreciate.

It’s why Taylor is well on her way to breaking the barriers that have thus far held back female boxers and crossing into the mainstream. She has a long way to go, but Peters has it lined up perfectly for her.

It’s all in her more than capable hands now.

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