Katie Taylor: Your Questions Answered

RTÉ.ie's Tadhg Peavoy met World and European Amateur Women's Boxing champion and Ireland women's international soccer player Katie Taylor, together with her coach/manager/father Pete, in October 2009.

Tadhg put questions submitted by RTÉ.ie users to Katie and her dad.

Mike in London: As the London Games 2012 take place at the Excel Centre in the Docklands, do you have any plans to fight there before the Olympics to familiarise yourself with the arena?

Katie Taylor: I don't think I have any plans to box there yet. Maybe there's going to be a tournament over there, just before the event. I just kind of let me father look after those things, or the boxing association.

Tadhg Peavoy (TP): Pete, do you think Katie will fight threre before the Olympics?

Pete Taylor: I think we will fight in London in 2012, to familiarise her with the place and the area.

Paraic Mahon: Are you disappointed that RTÉ never show your fights?

KT: I think if I was a man, they'd be following me around to all these major competitions. They didn't even bother showing my fights in [the European Championships in] Ukraine. Stuff like that does kind of bother me sometimes. But, as I say, there is nothing I can do about it. I just have to focus on boxing and let the rest go over my head.'

PT: The first time you were shown on RTÉ was against Caroline Barry [on the undercard of a Bernard Dunne fight] and she got a great response. I can't fathom whey they don't follow up on that kind of thing.

Paraic Mahon: Are you disappointed that very few women have won the Irish Sportsperson of the Year.

KT: Yes, I suppose I am. I think Derval O'Rourke definitely should have won it. I think Henry Shefflin may have won it [in 2006]. I really don't think you can compare a World Indoor Championship gold and European Championship silver to a national sport, but I still think she should have won it.

Declan Clancy: Having been so successful in the amateur game at such a young age. What goals have you now set for the future?

KT: Well, obviously, the Olympics is my main goal. Hopefully maintain the European and world titles as well - they're always going to be challenges for me as well. But the Olympics is the main one.

TP: Has that always been the case?

KT: Since I started boxing the Olympics was always on my mind. I've always watched it and loved it; the podium and the national anthem going off, is always what I've wanted. It's always been a dream for me to win the Olympics.

Declan Clancy: Do you plan to turn professional after the Olympics?

KT: I don't know really. I think professional boxing is maybe something I'd like to do to at some stage in my career. But I can't really answer that at this stage in my career. I think at some stage I'd like to give it a go, but I don't think my family are too keen on me turning pro either.

TP: Why is that, Pete?

PT: I just think that professional boxing is.I think if Darren Sutherland had stayed amateur he'd still be with us today. I think professional boxing is a cutthroat business. The only people making money are the promoters. I just find you're a piece of meat. You are a product for them and they use you. We advise Katie, but we'll do whatever she wants. If she decides to turn pro after the Olympics, she'll have 100% support. It's going to be Katie's decision.

TP: Why is there more support for amateur boxers than professional boxers?

PT: Professional [boxing] is a buiness. There are still people that get paid in amateur boxing, but you represent your country, there is a bit of pride there. Pro boxing is just out-and-out business. You get a big price for fighting this lad and sign a contract and you get ripped off.

TP: Brian Peters is Bernard Dunne's promoter. Do you think you would consider signing for Brian Peters if you did turn pro? Or would you consider a UK promoter?

KT: I think Brian Peters would be great. He's done great things for Irish boxing over the years and the shows he runs are amazing.

Barry O'Callaghan: Do you feel with the introduction of women's boxing into the Olympics, that the competition will get a lot more fierce? Especially with Olympic giants like Russia and China setting their sights on training fighters up to the required level?

KT: Definitely the next few years is going to be far more competitive. They are going to be pumping the money into women's boxing. The Chinese and the Russians are always strong anyways. They're going to get stronger and stronger in the next few years. I have to keep improving with them, so it is going to be a great challenge the next few years.

PT: China and Russia have predicted this for the last seven or eight years; they thought it was going to be in Beijing. So, they have been pumping money into it anyway. The Chinese and the Russians are always the strongest competitors. I think the competition has always been fierce. They had great foresight on this and have developed it already; we kind of missed the train a little bit. It only narrowly failed for Beijing, so was obviously going to get into London. We should have pumped money into it.

TP: Is that not happening?

PT: No. Great Britain have done it. We boxed against England three years ago. The Irish squad beat them in every fight, and they've progressed a lot from that now. They've been banging money into it. I don't think the competition will be more fierce as everyone has predicted this ahead anyway.

TP: In terms of finances, you have a grant from the Irish Sports Council and also a contract with Adidas. Where does most of your sponsorship come from?

KT: The Irish Sports Council. I'm on the top grant from them and that's a great grant for me to be on. I'm making a living off that at the moment. And with the contract from Adidas, I think I'm well sorted over the next few years.

PT: The sports council, even when it wasn't an Olympic sport, have been absolutely brilliant to Katie.

KT: I think I was on a grant from 17 or 18 [years old], this is when women's boxing was really unheard of and they kind of just supported me from the start.

Pierce McGeough: What do you find is the best way to train for a fight?

KT: Coming up to a fight a lot of sparring is the way to go. You have to kind of vary your sessions and have running training and weights sessions as well. I do weights sessions twice a week. As well as running sessions twice a week and in the afternoons I have purely boxing sessions.

Jonathan Lynam: Just curious as to what a typical week training camp, from training to diet, consists of for Katie?

KT: Coming up to competition I train twice a day, six days a week and in the mornings it would be a running session or a weights session and then in the afternoons it would be a boxing session: bags, pads, sparring, it's always so intense really. My diet, my mother kind of looks after my diet. She just makes sure I have all my fruit and veg that day. I eat whatever I want. Coming up to making my weight I have to cut out the bad stuff, because I'm a chocoholic.

Shane, Cork: You fight at 60kg. Do you find it hard to get to this weight for weigh-ins? Are you naturally lean and walk around close to 60kg, or do you have to stick to a strict diet and dehydrate yourself a lot before a weigh in?

KT: I think I walk around at 62/63kg. I have to kind of get down from that then, but the last kilo is always a killer to get off. I usually barely make it and step on to the scales at 59.9kg. I would have to dehydrate myself the night before all the time. I have the full day to recover from that and drink plenty of water. I drink water and dioralyte to replenish my body as well. I sip water all day on the day of a fight.

TP: What is your pre-fight meal and how long before the fight would you have it?

KT: I have a big breakfast after the weigh-in. Then the meal before the fight I always try and have a small meal, I don't like eating too much before a fight. I always get a good breakfast in.

PT: It depends where we are. You could be in Russia, so you get Russian food.

KT: Yeah, like beetroot soup.

PT: Making the weight, she has it to a tee now. Katie will go to bed at 60.5kg and lose a kg from dehydration.

David: Katie, well done on your continued dominance of your weight division. However, if you continue to have whitewash victories, will it discredit the level of competition within the sport, and thus devalue any medals won?

KT: I don't think so. In the Europeans, it was the first time I hadn't conceded a point. The standard of women's boxing is absolutely amazing out there and I know there's always going to be a few new faces coming up there. The only reason I'm winning is because I'm at my best and training so hard going into competition. Every time I win, it means everything to me.

Bren Walsh: As Ireland's greatest ever athlete - and I do sincerely think this - greater than any I have ever read about or seen, I would like to know who you would rate as Ireland's greatest athlete, either past or present?

KT: I've always looked up to Sonia O'Sullivan. I think she's one of the greatest athletes we've ever had really. Winning a World Championships and coming back to win a silver at the Olympics, I think she showed great character to come back from a hard few years before that.

Bren Walsh: Also, of all the boxers, amateur or pro, you have ever seen from the past and present, which fighter do you think was the best all-round fighter?

KT: I always thought Sugar Ray Leonard was the best. I think he can do everything: fight, box. I think he's one of the best fighters ever to watch.

TP: Do you style yourself on other boxers or is it all your own style?

KT: I love watching different types of fighter. I love watching Marco Antonio Barrera boxing and Sugar Ray Leonard. I kind of have all their fights at home and look at their fights. I think you learn so much from watching those type of boxers as well. After training I would put on a DVD and watch boxing all day. You learn so much from it.

Ronan O'Dea: Are you single? If yes, would you go on a date with me?

KT: I am single, but I won't be going on a date with you I don't think!

Robert Moloney: How many years have you left at amateur level?

KT: I think you can only stay at amateur level only if you are 34 [years old], so I have a while to go yet. Maybe after that I'll turn professional, or earlier, I don't know.

Robert Moloney: Who is your favourite Irish professional boxer of all time?

KT: Barry McGuigan. I have his fight at home against [Eusebio] Pedrosa and it's amazing. I've met him a few times and he's a gentleman.

Mike O'Neill, London: How much of your success, in the boxing ring and on the football pitch, is due not only to your own hard work over many years, but also in no small measure to your strong Christian beliefs and to the care, love and support of your family?

KT: I definitely don't think I would have achieved what I have achieved without God in my life. He's kind of my strength going into the ring, he's my confidence. Without my family, I'd be lost without them. They are so encouraging and and do everything for me coming up to my competitions. I think with God, this is what I'm meant to be doing with my life and this is what he wants me to do. I know he is always there and on my side. I know he is always there for me. I go to church every week in St Mark's Church in Pearse Street, every Sunday. I pray all the time. I pray everytime I get in the ring. When my mam is away with me, she comes up to my hotel room before a fight to pray.

TP: What does it give you? A sense of calm or peace?

KT: I think it just gives me a strong feeling and a lot of confidence. The bibles verses give me so much strength.

TP: What verses would they be?

KT: Psalm 18. I love reading the psalms. I find them really encouraging and inspirational before my fights. I also listen to songs we sing in the church beforehand.

Marty, London: Who do you think is the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world right now?

KT: Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather. I think Mayweather is probabably the best, but Pacquiao is the best to watch.

Marty, London: Who would come out on top: Manny Pacquiao or Miguel Cotto?

KT: Pacquiao. He's beaten so many good fighters over the years. I'm going to say Pacquiao.

Marty, London: Pacquiao or Mayweather?

KT: Mayweather.

Marty, London: If you do turn pro, would you rather move to the USA or stay in Ireland?

KT: I think I'd rather stay here. I'm a bit of a homebird. I don't know if it's possible to stay here. The fights are probably all going to be over in America. That's where all the best pro fighters are and where all the money is. As I say, Brian Peters would be a great promoter for me. I would like to stay here and my fights to be mostly here.

TP: Do you think Bernard Dunne should go on or call it a day now?

KT: I'm not sure; whatever Bernard wants himself. I think he's strong enough himself to pick himself up after that loss [to Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym]. He's done it before after the [Kiko] Martinez fight. 18 months after he was a world champion. It's whatever he wants himself. I think it is hard both physically and mentally to build yourself back up again, but, if he decides to go on he can do it again I think.