Zaur Antia firmly in Katie Taylor’s corner for vital year

National coach Zaur Antia is currently coaching London Olympic 2012 champion Katie Taylor as part of the High Performance Irish boxing team.

Since Billy Walsh departed the highly respected Georgian, who lives in Bray, has assumed control of one of the most talented group of boxers in Ireland’s Olympic history with proven medal winners Joe Ward, Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan and Taylor now part of the Rio package.

Pete Taylor, one of the top female coaches in world boxing and in Katie's corner for over a decade, has taken a break from his daughter's preparation.

Her brothers Lee and Peter were in her corner for the two recent bouts in Mallow and Tralee.

“I’m training with Zaur the whole time, in the high performance the whole time,” said Katie. “I feel the infrastructure that I have around me is definitely getting the best out of me.

“Zaur has been there from the get go. He knows everything that I’m on about. He knows me inside out. You wouldn’t want to be making too big of a change in such a big year.”

It is not yet certain if the coaching structures will remain the same for the rest of the year as Katie prepares for the Turkey Olympic Qualifiers in April and then the World Championships before Rio in August. Despite being reigning champion, she must still earn a place in Rio. Whether Pete makes a return to fully participate for the Olympics remains in doubt.

A break

“I’m not sure actually. My Dad is obviously just taking a bit of a break,” said Katie. “He decided to take that break so when he’s ready to come back I’m delighted to welcome him back. For the time being, I have a great support system around, a great infrastructure.”

It’s another defining year for Katie, who hopes to become the first female boxer to retain the gold medal. But again the prospect of her turning professional at some point has become an issue.

The difference in making that decision now is that top professional boxers will become eligible to compete in this summer’s Olympics under radical new proposals being pushed through by the world governing body, AIBA.

The president of the AIBA, Wu Ching-kuo, has indicated on Wednesday that the last remaining barriers preventing full-time professionals from competing in the Games may be abolished within a matter of months.

The AIBA hasn’t yet said if that applies to both men and women, not unusual for an edict driven, chaotic organisation. The move is a late but desperate attempt to attract big male names such as Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to participate in Rio.

“I think I’d love to give it a go at some stage in my career,” said Katie. “I’d love to box for a world professional title but I don’t know if that’s going to be after Rio.

“I think definitely we need a few of the bigger names in the amateur game to turn over, to generate a bit more interest in the women’s professional game.

Taylor beat Queen Underwood in Tralee last weekend, the same fighter she beat in Barbados to win her fourth successive World Championship gold. It was Underwood's last fight as an 'amateur' boxer.

“The two coaches that were in her corner were pro boxers,” she says. “They’re female pro boxers. I actually had a good chat with them.”

Now, however, she has different priorities. “At the moment, my focus is just on completely on the (Olympic) qualifiers,” she says. “I’m hoping I won’t need to qualify (for Rio) during the World Championship.”