Katie to go Pro!

Rubbish report so, if she does it will be after the Olympics.

plus where is the link to the story as otherwise its pointless.

Source ?

How old is Katie? 23/24?

2 1/2 years to London is a long enough time to maintain focus
and commitment as an amateur. If she is being tempted by money it
will make the wait that bit harder.

Jigga wrote: »

This thread is rubbish, lock it mods!

Patience!

I read the Star report. Gogarty makes some valid points, but the point about Taylor winning the gold as being a "given," is a little naive.

The proam debate is irritating Taylor's camp and who knows, she may just be lured by the money, and who could blame her? It's a tough sport, and tougher when you aren't making much money from it

I have to be honest, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Taylor turned pro.
Now, this is just an analogy, but Khan turned pro aged 18 when he
had even more time than Taylor. He was a real prospect for a gold
in Beijing, actually from looking at the LW and JWW divisions, he was
more a given I would say than Taylor will be in 2012. Money talks, and if it's
the right money, why shouldn't she go pro?

I didn't compare them; I used an analogy.
Money lured Khan, and with Taylor, money will
lure her.

I am not saying the money is equal, I am simply saying that Taylor has 30 months to
wait for the games, and that is long enough for anything to happen.

She may be getting several good offers to go pro that will prove difficult
to turn down. She is not a guarantee to win gold and maybe the gamble on
waiting is too much. Right now she is the best and is a potential great pro, but
who can say the situation will be the same in late 2012

walshb wrote: »

I didn't compare them; I used an analogy.
Money lured Khan, and with Taylor, money will
lure her.

I am not saying the money is equal, I am simply saying that Taylor has 30 months to
wait for the games, and that is long enough for anything to happen.

She may be getting several good offers to go pro that will prove difficult
to turn down. She is not a guarantee to win gold and maybe the gamble on
waiting is too much. Right now she is the best and is a potential great pro, but
who can say the situation will be the same in late 2012

Well Khan already had olympic silver so would the option of hanging around to compete for gold in 4 years time be a good one considering the moneys he would make as Warrens star prospect? Plus the amount of fights he had in those 4 years would have been the equivalent to a years worth of amature fights for a lot less money. Plus getting the pro experience that early is invaluable.

Katie is the best female in world amature boxing and a favourite to get gold in 2012. In front of her lies the oppurtunity to be the first Irish female olympian boxer, and one of the first gold medallists in womens olympic boxing.

I dont know much about womens pro boxing due to its lack of coverage but i bet it has no prize as precious as olympic gold.

Guys, I am a big Taylor fan and happen to think she is one of Ireland's greatest
ever sports stars; but I wouldn't be over confident of anything in 2012. Right now, I'd bet a lot on Taylor to win gold, but in 30 months time, anything or anyone can happen.

We are talking about the U.S.; U.K, France, Germany, India, China etc. Surely somewhere on this planet there is real talent that will be challenging for gold. If Katie remains 100 percent focused and improves in the next 2 years, then she is a real bet for gold.

I just hope we here in Ireland do all we can to ensure she does stay amateur and does
have every chance to win gold in London. She will be tempted and that temptation will be harder and harder as time ticks by.

cowzerp wrote: »

have to disagree Bren, if she does not go pro now the closer to the games it goes the more she'll want to achieve the Olympic dream, becoming the 1st female Boxing Olympian and probably Champion is just amazing, plus her marketability will be so much higher with an olympic medal, especially gold on her neck that she'll make much more money than if she went pro now..

Short term greediness over long term success, she's smart and well looked after and im quite sure she'd wait for the latter.

Paul, that's perfect IF it works out like that. This is my point. If Katie had a crystal ball and could see the Gold and the success and fame and THEN the big pro contract, then that is perfect. But, this is not a certainty, it is a gamble, especially when now or in the near future she will be getting good money offers to turn pro. Like I said, a lot can happen in 30 months.

As a pro she'd be making very little as things stand, if she wins gold then the odds are she'll take over from dunne for selling out the point every fight, nice little earners every few months, and would make all sorts of advertising revenue from it, as a pro she'd be just another boxer, unless she was olympic champ 1st..

I think your over estimating the money she could make right now.

joker77 wrote: »

I think there'd want to be a lot of male boxers on the card to sell out the point, big as her profile would get I still don't see women's boxing drawing the same numbers

You put Katie Taylor in a World title fight as a pro and she'll sell out the point, I'm almost certain of that.

At least the first time she'd fight for a title that is. In women's pro boxing there's just as many 'World titles' about, except the quality and depth is much weaker than Male boxers. Top women amateur fighters actually tend to be better than their pro counterparts.

It wouldn't be long(4/5 fights if they wanted) before she could fight for a World title as a pro, and on a card like that I could see her selling the Point out pretty much on her own. From then on though I could see the challenge in selling the place out, and she'd probably have to drop down to a smaller venue like the Citywest or even the stadium.

It would take 'unification' fights and as tough matchmaking as possible to keep the fans interested during Taylor's pro career. If she was as dominant as a pro(which imo would be quite likely) I think people could lose interest somewhat and she'd become part of the undercard for Male fighters such as Lee.

All speculation but it's more reason for her to stay amateur at the moment.
Things are going perfect in her career, and she should be picking up a Gold medal at the Olympics in 2 1/2 years time.

I wouldn't say she is being offered as much as a rising male, but the fact that it's being reported and speculated about, then it's safe to assume that the option may well be on her mind.

But, what if the option is still a deal better than remaining amateur and HOPING all goes according to plan? That is what would concern me, and if that option is a deal better than staying amateur, then the IABA and whoever is responsible for Katie's bid to grab gold, should rethink their
deal/deals

Bren:
Have read your views which I always respect but don't think anyone really understands as yet what is "really happening behind the scenes" and why we are where we are today. (myself included)
As others have said KT has been one of the prime reasons why Womens boxing was accepted in the Games. For many years the Taylor family have chased that dream of KT standing on the podium with a GOLD. (As you also know I have been one of a small number where on this and other forums have always said a lot can happen between 2009 and 2012) especially withthe growth of boxing and the sheer volume of money thrown at it by others nations inc but not exclusively Russian,China,India.

The Taylors have always known that there is little worldwide acceptance of womens boxing yet and though there are indeed modest sums available in USA,Russia and nearer home in Germany personally I doubt of the outlay would even recover the VERY CONSIDERABLE sums of family money paid by the Taylors to achieve their Daughter's and their ambititions.,ambitions focused first and foremost on an Olympic medal. (had money been a prime factor would she not have gone pro after the pre-Beijing rebuff for her sport.?

Almost everyone who knows her speaks highly of what this modest young woman has already achieved, agreed, in recent years with some good funding from the Irish Sports Council and no doubt to some,albeit a much lesser extent from IABA.

It is clear here that there is a behind the scenes major ongoing dispute being fought. Luckily it is now only Feb 2010 not Summer 2012. Pete Taylor is an exceptionally astute Yorkshire man who has achieved wonders for his daughter's career.The support of Mum Bridget and rest of the family is also tremendous. This is a close knit family they will act as TEAM TAYLOR and remain UNITED to the end.

Does anyone SERIOUSLY believe that KT, having given up so many years when she could have turned PRO is going to do so unless the |Taylors are DRIVER TO DESPERATION? I doubt it. And with the greatest respect to Katie even the world's top amateur cannot go from being a world amateur champion to a world pro-champion overnight. Future opponents are such as Holly Holm (she also has Irish connections). Just google one of her fights on say You Tube and compare her with say KT v Caroline Barry.THe present difference is considerable.

What is now needed is that commonsense prevails and that the existing differences which (on paper seem mainly to link to "the forthcoming pro-am event" is resolved to the satisfaction of all before Ireland loses one of its best,indeed probably its best GOLD medal prospect for Londfon. Time for Pat Hickey of OCI ,John Treacy of ISC and Irish Chef de Mission for 2010 London, Sonia O'Sullivan to offer some sensible advice and find a solution which in relation to pro-am should not be especially difficult.And preferably not with a Media circus watching every move.

Could there be another factor? Perhaps the IABA are 'unhappy" with Pete Taylor being a member of the Irish coaching team for London?

After all the unhelpful articles in the red tops media in Dublin in recent weeks it is good to see that at least one of our more professional journalists has spoken out today.For those who have not read it here is a link to the VINCENT HOGAN article

"http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/vincent-hogan-iaba-must-treat-taylor-as-a-person--not-a-commodity-2042085.html


One last thought: IF the Taylors are sufficiently aggrieved it could well be that KT qualifies (no lady has yet qualified) for London as a member of the British team? After all her Dad is English ... is that a potential scenario that any of us would welcome?


Mike

walshb wrote: »

But, what if the option is still a deal better than remaining amateur and HOPING all goes according to plan? That is what would concern me, and if that option is a deal better than staying amateur, then the IABA and whoever is responsible for Katie's bid to grab gold, should rethink their
deal/deals