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'We'll never see the like of Katie Taylor again' | Billy Walsh on the best in the world

USA boxing head coach Billy Walsh has praised Katie Taylor as the 'best in the world', whose like...



Best of OTB

'We'll never see the like of Katie Taylor again' | Billy Walsh on the best in the world

USA boxing head coach Billy Walsh has praised Katie Taylor as the 'best in the world', whose like we will never see again.

Walsh joined Off The Ball to preview Taylor's defence of her world titles against Liverpool's Natasha Jonas on Saturday, and believes that Ireland should pay tribute to the best there has been and will be.

Katie Taylor: the GOAT

"Nobody is born fit, everybody has to work at it. She just has this determination and drive; some boxers have it and others don't have it," Walsh said of what separates Taylor.

"You're not born with it, it's a drive within you. She has always had this drive within her to be the best she can be, and that just happens to be the best in the world.

"I remember saying this to her when she had won her sixth European and fifth world title, I said 'we're never going to see a person like this again.'

"I'm going to say it again: as a professional, for what she has achieved in her professional career, we are not going to see someone dominate boxing like Katie Taylor, and put women's boxing on the map.

"Without Katie Taylor, women's boxing would be years behind. Katie Taylor put women's boxing on the map. She was the first one the IOC came to watch her fight on the men's world championships before they made a decision to have it in London.

"After they saw her, they said 'the quality and standard is so high, that we have got to have the girls in there.'

"I think we should cherish every moment of this lady, she's in her mid-thirties now, I don't know how much longer she wants to fight or what she wants to achieve. But we have to stand up and take a bow to this lady because she's put Ireland and women's boxing on the map."

Natasha Jonas

Meanwhile, Jonas feels she and Taylor were always on a collision course to meet again in the professional ranks, albeit a route diverted by the Liverpudlian's 2018 loss to Viviane Obenauf in Cardiff.

"At that time... I honestly believed that - hand on heart - Katie was the only person that could've beaten me," Jonas said of the 2012 meeting with Taylor.

"I was on a projection which was just... I'd come out of the World Championships on a different level and a different high after getting a bronze medal.

"And I finally believed in how good I was."

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