Katie Taylor's promoter Eddie Hearn hopes to announce, next week, the name of the opponent the former amateur Olympic and world champion will face for her first world title shot in Cardiff.
Taylor, ranked number one in the world at lightweight by the WBA, will fight on the undercard of Britain's Anthony Joshua and Bulgaria's Kubrat Pulev in the Principality Stadium on October 28th.
“There are a few offers out there. All of the champions at Katie’s weight are being sounded out,” said a spokesperson in the Taylor camp.
The WBC champion, Belgium’s Delfine Persoon has been injured all year and has a defence already lined up in November, which means she is not an option for Taylor.
Vacant
The WBA title is currently vacant and that is being contested this weekend by two Argentine boxers, Anahí Sánchez (16-2-0) and Cecilia Mena (10-1-1).
Sánchez and Mena were scheduled to fight on August 4th for the WBA Lightweight title. However, Mena presented a medical report stating that she had a urinary infection and could not fight. The re-fixed bout takes place in Buenos Aires on Saturday night.
It will be Taylor’s third time on the undercard of Joshua, who is also promoted by Hearn, and the second time she will have fought in an outdoor stadium. The Cardiff ground has a ‘closed roof’ and though the normal capacity is some 74,500 this can be extended to nearly 80,000 when additional seats are installed on the pitch, as was done in Wembley for Joshua v Klitschko.
Taylor has won all six of her professional fights with ease and has encountered problems attracting opponents.
“This weekend will tell a lot. We have been working on it since the New York fight, trying to tempt a champion to come to Wales,” added the spokesman. “Ideally we would like to get it done next week.”
