Katie Taylor begins her road to Rio Olympics

The road to Rio begins tonight in the Mansion House for Irish lightweight gold medallist Katie Taylor. The Bray 27-year-old meets American number three Melissa Parker 24 hours before taking on Finland’s Mira Potonen in the Ballywaltrim Community Centre in Bray.

Returning to where it all started in her home town, the Bray Boxing Club is managing to do what the Irish Amateur Boxing Association could not – organise an event post London Olympic Games to showcase the ability of the biggest star they have ever had and probably ever will have.

It has been a relatively inactive year for Taylor, who had just one international event, the European Union Championships, which she won. Next year the European Championships (all European countries) and World Championships should provide a lot more activity.

In her almost never ending knack of establishing benchmarks and firsts, Taylor could also become the first holder of a European Games lightweight gold. The inaugural event, which will be large and akin to a European Olympic games, takes place in 2015.

Edmonton, Canada, will host the world event, while no venue has yet been decided for the European tournament. Ireland made a bid to host the European Championships this year before the European Federation decided to postpone it until 2014.

It would be seen as a major upset if Parker were to beat the four times World and Olympic champion, although given Taylor's domination of her weight division it's a surprise if she ever loses.

Last defeat
Her last defeat was in February 2011, when judges scored a fight in the Strandja Cup final 5-1 to the local Bulgarian fighter, Denista Eliseeva. Made more farcical by the referee actually raising Taylor's arm as the winner, an embarrassed Eliseeva went to the Irish dressingroom afterwards and apologised for the decision.

A former US Marine and winner of the National Golden Glove Tournament as well as three times US Elite National Champion, tonight's opponent Parker has been ranked number one in the world but at 57kg, not Taylor's chosen 60kg. New York born, she was fifth in the 2005 World Championships in Russia.

“Next year will be a big year for Katie with both the European and World Championships on,” said her father and coach Pete. “So these two fights are part of her preparations. They are both experienced opponents.”