Katie Taylor insists she is not struggling for motivation ahead of her second professional bout in the space of just two weeks.
The former Olympic champion made a winning start to her paid career with a dominant third-round stoppage victory over Polish journeywoman Karina Kopinska in London a fortnight ago and she returns to the ring again tonight, taking on Swiss-based Brazilian Viviane Obenauf in Manchester.
The bout will be high up on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s IBF world heavyweight title defence against Texan Eric Molina at what is anticipated to be a sold-out Manchester Arena with a crowd of around 21,000 present.
Taylor’s fight is the live TV ‘float’ ahead of the main event, which means the Bray woman should take to the ring sometime between 8-9pm, with the contest screened on Sky Box Office while promoter Eddie Hearn has reported that US broadcasters Showtime have also expressed a keen interest in televising the Irishwoman’s bout Stateside.
Despite a quick turnaround after her debut paid fight, Taylor decided against taking an extended pre-Christmas break as she believes the opportunity to box in front of such a big worldwide audience was too good to turn down.
"To have the chance to box on such a big card, that’s enough motivation for me really,” said the 30-year-old.
"It’s an incredible opportunity for me, boxing in front of such a big crowd and boxing in front of Showtime as well as Sky, so it’ll be brilliant for me,” added Taylor, who clocked the scales at 9st 6lbs 2oz at Friday afternoon’s weigh-in – just a touch over the 132lb limit set for her bout with Obenauf.
That ‘catchweight’ has been set as Taylor’s team are weighing up the idea of whether the five-time amateur world champion will pursue her first professional title shot at super-featherweight (130lbs) or lightweight (135lbs), with the 132lb limit being roughly equivalent to Taylor’s old amateur competition weight of 60kg.
"You can’t buy experience and this experience is going to be key over the next few months as well," said Taylor on what may be a gradual effort to trim down to 130lbs in an effort to eventually become a multi-weight world champion.
The Bray native did not have much rest after her maiden pro win, taking just one day off before preparing for her second paid contest.
"Yeah, I was straight back in on the Monday," explained Taylor. "Obviously I had a rest on the Sunday, but I couldn’t really rest on my laurels, I had to get straight back in and just get back into the gym and prepare for this fight.
"The last few weeks went perfectly for me in terms of my preparation so I don’t feel like I lost anything in those couple of weeks," added the six-time European amateur champion, who has entrusted her trainer Ross Enamait with coming up with a game plan to take on 30-year-old Obenauf.
The Brazilian – who weighed in at 9st 5lbs 9oz (131lbs) - carries a winning record of 9-1, suffering her sole defeat on points to undefeated Italian Vissia Trovato. She has never been stopped and recorded a win over Kopinska just two months ago.
Taylor is once again priced as an unbackable favourite with the bookies, but the London 2012 champion insists that she is not taking her opponent lightly.
"I’ve had a look at the tapes [of Obenauf] and Ross has been analysing her for the last few weeks as well, so I’m sure we’ll be well prepared and it’s obviously going to be a tougher fight, but I’m prepared for it," said Taylor.
