REVENGE WON’T BE on the agenda when Katie Taylor meets old foe Denitsa Eliseeva in Castlebar next month.
Ireland’s Olympic gold medallist returned to the ring this weekend with a double date of wins, including a clinical performance against Germany’s Maike Klueners in a sold-out Bord Gáis Energy Arena last night.
Taylor is back in the same venue for the second of her “Road to Rio” promotions when she takes on Ukranian champion Yulia Tsiplakova on 22 March.
Today promoter Brian Peters confirmed details of a third card which sees the four-time world champion come up against Bulgaria’s Eliseeva, the last woman to beat her, in Castlebar’s Royal Theatre on 24 March.
Eliseeva was gifted a controversial points win by the judges when she beat Taylor 5-1 on home turf at the Strandja Multi-Nations in February 2011, a shock result for which she later apologised to Taylor’s furious camp.
Taylor avenged the defeat that summer when she beat the Bulgarian on the way to her fourth European Union lightweight title, and her father and coach Pete insists next month’s meeting won’t be a grudge match.
“I hadn’t even told Katie about the opponents for March because she was just concentrating on last weekend,” he said today. “She never looks beyond her next opponent so first we’ll focus on Tsiplakova and then Eliseeva.
“Whenever people say that she is the last girl to beat Katie I always correct them and say she was the last to get a decision over her because nobody outside of the judges thought that Katie lost that fight.
“Katie has avenged every defeat she’s ever had and she beat Eliseeva in the European Union championships later that same year but we’re looking forward to boxing her again in Ireland.”
Tickets for the dates at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre and the Royal Theatre are on sale now from Ticketmaster.ie or the theatre box offices.
