Katie Taylor: 'I go into every camp training like an underdog, these belts are everything to me'

If such cordiality is ordinarily the order of the day, perhaps Firuza Sharipova hadn’t seen the menu.

“Even with Conor McGregor in the ring with her, I’d knock them both out,” she proclaimed ahead of her own tilt at Taylor’s throne this evening.

You come at the queen, you best not miss. Indeed, Sharipova’s somewhat offbeat gift of a football, presented to Taylor at yesterday’s weigh-in, may serve as a pre-emptive peace offering in that regard.

And yet, as Kazakhstan’s first-ever female professional fighter, Sharipova is no stranger to blazing her own trail.

Her CV to date boasts a seemingly solid suite of credentials, eight stoppage victories from 14 wins evidencing some ballast to boot.

That those triumphs have come against comparatively abject opposition is perhaps more pertinent.

Oddsmakers have concluded as much; Taylor enters as a prohibitive favourite.

2021 has been the year of the underdog, however, boxing betting lines bellied week on week.

Even by that metric, an upset here would be a tectonic turn-up for the books.

Sharipova could scarcely have left fewer stones unturned to that end, though, the 27-year-old most notably joining forces with Taylor’s former foe Sofya Ochigava.

It was the Russian whom KT toppled in London 2012’s gold medal match. The pair had previously swapped victories throughout their shared amateur spell.

“No one else knows how to fight Taylor like Sofya,” contends Sharipova, whose own sole defeat in the paid ranks came versus Ochigava.

“Therefore, not only will I be in the ring against Taylor, but the intelligence of Sofya — who has prepared me very well for this fight — will be with me.

“I watched their fight in the final of the Olympic Games and I’m sure that the judges helped Taylor. Sofya knocked her down, which wasn’t counted. Sofya was better in the fight, she won it. Taylor is usually not afraid of anyone, but in that final fight, Sofya saw fear in her eyes. Even now, Taylor refuses to fight her. Anything can happen in boxing. In the media, many people call me an underdog. But I will prove that I was underestimated.”

Taylor remains characteristically unperturbed by any brash bravado. Halloween heralded 20 years since she partook in Irish boxing’s first sanctioned female bout.

The Bray native has spent the subsequent two decades doing her talking in the ring.

“There’ll be nothing here that I haven’t seen before,” remarked Taylor ahead of this clash in Liverpool.

“Nothing that I haven’t heard before, either. That all comes with experience.

“I don’t really take too much from (the build-up), to be honest. I’m a very different fighter now than I was when I fought (Ochigava). But, even so, regardless of that, I never take much notice. It never makes a difference once we’re in the ring. I’ll have my plan, and she’ll have hers. We’ll see who comes out on top.”

Having just reached the fifth anniversary of her pro debut, the 35-year-old still shows few signs of abating.

Victory tonight would take to 20-0 her blemish-free résumé, clearing the decks for more marquee match-ups by 2022.

“It’s been an amazing five years, I think it’s the best decision I’ve made in my whole life in turning pro. Boxing on the biggest stages in the world, becoming a two-weight world champion, undisputed, it’s been such an exciting journey.

'Complacency can’t happen'

“I genuinely feel like the best is yet to come, that people have yet to see the best of me. I don’t really find it difficult to stay hungry, I feel as motivated as ever. There are so many big fights out there for me, and big names. But for now my focus is all on this fight, you can’t overlook anyone.

“I’ve learned those lessons the hard way, even as an amatuer, where I was a world champion for years and went into a few fights complacent. That’s when you get beaten. Complacency can’t happen. But I can honestly say I wouldn’t be the fighter I am now without those losses. You do learn so much, that’s where the growth happens, really. Not when you’re on top of the world. It forces you to analyse things. It just has to happen that way, unfortunately.

“It has been an exciting few months in the sport with all these upsets. That’s what makes boxing so exciting. If fighters go in there unprepared or underprepared, one punch can change everything. It’s hard to become champion. It’s even harder to remain champion. I just have a different mentality in that sense. I may be a champion, but I go into every camp training like an underdog. These belts are everything to me.”