Katie Taylor says she is “grateful” for the support from unified heavyweight world champion, Anthony Joshua ahead of her undisputed lightweight title clash against Miriam Gutierrez on Saturday.
Taylor defends all her 135lbs world titles against Gutierrez at The SSE Arena on Saturday night, as part of a female, world title triple-header live on all Sky Sports platforms; YouTube, Facebook and skysports.com.
Joshua, who defends his unified world titles on December 12 against Kubrat Pulev, before moving onto a proposed showdown against WBC champion, Tyson Fury described Taylor as “phenomenal and special” this week and says the two-weight world champion has left a lasting legacy on the sport.
Taylor, 34, won a gold medal alongside Joshua at the 2012 Olympics and repaid the compliment in a Zoom conference call on Tuesday.
“From such a legacy building fighter himself, that obviously means so much,” Taylor said in response to a question asked by proboxing-fans.com.
“Anthony Joshua has always been a huge supporter of myself over the last few years and of women’s boxing itself.
“So, very, very grateful for those comments. It’s always obviously great to hear nice things about yourself isn’t it and it’s coming from someone like Anthony Joshua, that makes it even more special.”
Taylor makes a second defence of her undisputed crown, following her rematch victory over Delfine Persoon in August.
The Irish great, who was lined up to face Amanda Serrano prior to Persoon, has been linked with a crossover fight with Bellator star Cris Cyborg, but says she is open to domestic clashes with WBC super lightweight champion Chantelle Cameron and former Olympic rival Natasha Jonas, should she beat the undefeated Spaniard on Saturday.
“I’m afraid to mention Amanda Serrano’s name, I know that fight has fell through so many times, but it’s obviously still a fight that people would be interested in,” Taylor added.
“Jessica McCaskill is obviously a huge fight as well. Chantelle Cameron has been mentioned as well.
“I’m willing to go up in the weights as well and there’s obviously a few great names in the super featherweight division as well.
“There’s definitely no shortage of big fights out there which is fantastic, but I’m willing to step in the ring with anyone really.
“I think that would be a fantastic fight [against Natasha Jonas] actually.
“I think Tasha showed in her last fight that she’s still capable of producing some great performances, she is at that level.
“It’s a fight that people will be very, very interested in, so if that’s a fight that people want to see, I’m very, very happy to take that fight and I’m sure so is she as well.
“That’s a huge fight especially over here in the UK, it’s a mega, mega fight.”
Watch the full interview with Taylor below, where she discusses equal pay, pound-for-pound rankings and more:
