Katie Taylor made a successful first defence of her WBA lightweight world title on Wednesday night in London, but former Ireland team-mate Eric Donovan believes that the Bray native received a few wake-up calls in what proved a very tough test against American Jessica McCaskill.
The former amateur world champion was only fighting as a professional for the eighth time and recorded a unanimous decision victory, the scorecards 97-92, 97-92, 98-91 suggesting that it was a comprehensive win for Taylor.
But in reality, Taylor had to dig deep to regain control of the bruising encounter midway through the bout as she was rocked by a wild left hook in the sixth round, and Donovan believes that the 2012 Olympic champion still has work to do to complete the transition from world class amateur to the heights of the professional game.
"It was a real, real fight for Katie Taylor last night," Donovan told RTÉ Sport. "She [McCaskill] is rough and rugged and a typical raw pro.
"Katie is outstanding in terms of her amateur pedigree, Olympic champion, multiple world champion, multiple European champion, but that can only serve you so well in one discipline.
"Now she’s moving into a different sport, amateur is over three rounds, professional is over ten rounds and much more physical.
"There is also more opportunity as a professional boxer to get in close, rough up your opponent, make it messy like what McCaskill did last night. The referee in an amateur bout would not allow an opponent to be messy, rugged or trying to disrupt the fight, but in professional boxing, that is encouraged.
"We heard McCaskill’s coach in the last round telling her to go out there and ‘just detonate, just maul her’.
"That’s professional boxing,it’s a different sport, it’s a business, it’s not amateur, it’s win at all costs so in that respect, Katie got a few wake-up calls last night."
Donovan is in a similar position to Taylor having recently set out on his own journey within the paid ranks, so the former European bronze medallist is in the perfect position to speak about the challenges of moving from amateur to professional.
Donovan has fought five times as a professional and remains unbeaten as he starts to target fights at European title level, while Taylor was fighting for a world belt in just her seventh outing since leaving the amateur ranks.
So while ‘Lilywhite Lightning’ Donovan saw plenty of positives within Taylor’s performance at the iconic York Hall, where she was topping the bill, he also believes that there is plenty of rough edges to smooth out as the fights are only going to get tougher.
"Your skills can get you out of trouble time and time again, but not all the time, and last night I felt although Katie had to dig deep and she retained her world title, there are a few things that she will need to improve on as she goes along further.
"Because McCaskill exposed a few different areas last night that I hope Katie Taylor’s coach paid notice to and that is something that they need to work on in the gym."
Donovan is convinced that Taylor made life more difficult for herself than she needed to against her brawling opponent and believes that there are certain tools that are essential in order to survive in the rough and tumble of professional boxing.
"It doesn’t happen overnight, but there are a couple of things that you need to focus on and use well constantly, and that is your jab.
"I felt Katie neglected her jab last night and kind of depended on her right hand, which was very good for her.
"But throwing lead right hands, lead backhands constantly throughout meant that she was neglecting her jab, which can be a very effective weapon and could have broke down McCaskill’s attack each time.
"Because when Katie threw out that backhand [essentially a low, straight right to the solar plexes], it landed, but not every time and when it didn’t land, it meant that McCaskill was in close and in the danger zone.
"And she was coming back with her own very, very wild hooks, big swinging hooks and all it takes in professional boxing is one of those to land on the button and it could be game over."
Donovan explained that it relates to her vast experience as an amateur, where Taylor was peerless for the best part of a decade, and the five-time Irish amateur champion feels that she is still relying too much on those boxing fundamentals that guided her to so much success.
"Katie is so set in her amateur ways, look how many fights she has had as an amateur? So it is going to take time," said Donovan.
"But there is a couple of things that you need to do to break down an oncoming, rugged strong professional.
"You need to be able to drop, bend your knees and keep your chin low in your chest and just tie them up.
"Break up her rhythm with a little duck, get in under her arms, stand up tall and tie her up, then turnaround and walk yourself back to where the space is in the ring.
"By doing that from time to time, your opponent will have to re-set her agenda, re-set her attack and you frustrate them.
"I just felt that Katie, at times, was boxing off the back foot, almost inviting McCaskill to come on strong and that can be dangerous."
But Donovan’s honest and forensic appraisal of Taylor’s performance was not all doom and gloom – far from it – and the Kildare native saw plenty of positives from the world champion, which will stand to her in future fights against better opponents.
"There is loads to take from [the performance]," said Donovan. "The positive side is that she took a good few punches, she took them well. She came back with blistering hand speed, showed great strength and great courage and defended her title successfully.
"Katie did take a few. Her chin was up a little bit and she took a few big swinging shots from McCaskill.
"The punches definitely buzzed her, you could see from the effect that it had on her head going back and her legs at times, she had to retreat momentarily.
"But you just don’t want to be taking too many of them and you don’t want to see your fighter taking those kind of punches, so hopefully Ross Enamait can work on getting Katie to work off her jab, but to also tighten up with her defence.
"It is going to get tougher as she goes along."
Katie Taylor rounded off a momentous year in style as she defended her WBA World Lightweight title in London. #rtesport #katietaylor pic.twitter.com/eYsg3iI30W
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) December 14, 2017
