Originally opened in 1929 as traditional Turkish Baths in the heart of London’s Bethnal Green, York Hall has evolved into one of the most famous venues in British boxing.
Endless world champions have plied their trade at the east-end venue, working their way up the ranks towards that holiest of grails, including Lennox Lewis, Wayne McCullough, Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Carl Froch, Ricky Hatton and Carl Frampton.
And tonight Katie Taylor will add her name to the long list of elite fighters who have had the pleasure of boxing at this most atmospheric arena in the heart of London, when she defends her recently acquired world title against American Jessica McCaskill.
The 2012 Olympic champion headlines the card at the sold-out arena, and while Taylor has already been crowned world champion, this first defence and top billing begins the latest chapter of the already remarkable career of the five-time amateur world champion.
Taylor turned professional just over one year ago and fought for the world title in her seventh professional encounter, defeating Argentina’s Anahi Sanchez on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight clash with Carlos Takam in Cardiff on 28 October.
The Bray native proved her quality as she claimed the vacant WBA title with a comprehensive display of power and poise, dominated the ten-round contest from start to finish, while dropping her opponent in the second round with a cracking body shot.
Taylor’s opponent, the Chicago-based McCaskill, can certainly talk the talk, and it was her persistent pestering on social media, which has aided her getting a chance to fight for the belt.
But does she deserve it?
There is no doubting, that the top-ranked American will be tough and sturdy in the ring and will be capable of hurting Taylor should the opportunity arise.
McCaskill fights with a strong leading left-arm jab and throws big right bombs over the top at every opportunity.
The 33-year-old will look to use that weapon as early as possible in this contest, ideally catching Taylor cold in the early stages of the fight.
But that is likely to be as good as it gets for McCaskill, whose boxing attributes appear to be quite limited at this level.
The American has no amateur pedigree to draw upon, and that appears fairly evident from watching her professional encounters thus far.
McCaskill’s footwork leaves a lot to be desired and the challenger’s defence is noticeably absent when she throws and misses – she does that a lot – which leaves her off balance and vulnerable to attack.
CasKILLA, as she is known, has only six professional fights under her belt and three of those encounters, one of which she lost, were against novice fighters.
The Illinois-based boxer has never been scheduled in a ten-round fight and has only ever fought a six-round contest, which should affect her stamina should the fight reach the latter stanzas.
But there is a lot of heart in the Windy City challenger, which was needed in her last contest against Natalie Brown who opted for a street-fight style, and despite the messy nature of the encounter, McCaskill remained as disciplined as possible in the circumstances and impressively stopped her opponent in the second round.
Throughout the short space of time that McCaskill has been fighting in the paid ranks, her style and technique have improved immensely, yet she still remains several rungs below Taylor on all aspects of the game.
Taylor’s team have chosen wisely for her first defence of the WBA strap.
Granted McCaskill is ranked fourth in the world on the BoxRec ratings, even a below-par Taylor would handle everything asked of her tonight.
In essence, this bout is very much part of the bigger picture as Taylor sets out to clean up this division, knowing that any established fighters ranked lower than tonight’s opponent should not be considered for future fights.
Taylor will probably look to land a unification fight in March, which will likely mean going after either of Argentina’s two champions, Yohana Belén Alfonzo (WBO) or Victoria Noelia Bustos (IBF).
Once achieved, the fight that needs to happen is a match-up with the stand-out champion in the division, Belgium’s Delfine Persoon, who is the reigning WBC champion with 40 professional fights under her belt and just one defeat, which came back in 2010.
Taylor set the standards throughout women’s boxing in the amateur ranks and is credited with being one of the main reasons that the sport achieved Olympic recognition, however, the professional game has enjoyed plenty of exposure over the past two decades with boxers like England’s Jane Couch and Laila Ali, daughter of Mohammed Ali raising its profile.
But Taylor is certainly part of a new breed within the re-emerging professional industry and most of her future fights are set to come from those who benefitted from the Irish fighter’s amateur profile and are now moving on into the paid ranks, most notably Chantelle Cameron who is training at the McGuigan Gym.
Tonight’s fight comes just six weeks after Taylor’s tiring ten-rounder in Cardiff and many might question the wisdom involved fighting so soon after winning the world title.
The Bethnal Green bout is set for the championship regulation of ten, two-minute rounds, however, it would be very surprising if McCaskill is still standing after five.
