Ringside Report: Taylor vs Carabajal

Ringside Report: Taylor vs Carabajal

By Garry White

Commanding pre-fight odds of 1/25 in favour of Katie Taylor proved unsurprisingly accurate as she fought her way to a routine victory against overmatched opponent Karen Elizabeth Carabajal [now 19-1, 2KOs]. The 32-year-old challenger for Taylor’s full cupboard of 135 lbs belts was fighting outside of her native Argentina for the first time. Her last success back in April, via unanimous decision, against novice Lorena Edith Agoutborde (then 2-0-2, 1KO) predictably proved lightyears away from the level needed to trouble the 36-year-old champion.

Taylor [now 22-0,6KOs] entered the ring to much anticipation in a Wembley Arena packed liberally with Irish tricolours. Every piece of canned footage or backstage warm-up, beamed out at regular interludes throughout the undercard from the screens above the ring, was met with raucous appreciation from the assembled crowd. To the faithful, the woman from Bray, 12 miles south of the Irish capital, is a talent rarer than a precious Ming vase but one equipped with all the unbreakable durability of a Land Rover Defender.

It is impossible to argue just how much Taylor has helped establish the credibility of the female divisions since forgoing a storied amateur career to turn pro in 2016. Pound-for-pound there are bigger punchers and silkier movers, but collectively none of them is able to piece together all of the essential pieces of the boxing puzzle better than the Irishwoman. And above all else, it is her indomitable character that casts these pieces and makes them impervious to any attempted rearrangement from the opposite corner.

The Irish contingent was big and vocal at ringside, but flags don’t begin to determine her popularity. That focused, uncompromising stare when in fight mode always perfectly contrasted by the modest, self-effacing woman outside of it, cannot be polarised by borders.  It is impossible not to like and admire Taylor, whose honesty, skill, and diligence provided a much-needed bulwark for the sport this week following the recent unseemly shenanigans involving Conor Benn and failed drugs test.

Still, at the same time, we desperately need to see Taylor in more meaningful matchups than this. Yes, her opponent was unbeaten, and of course, the fight was sanctioned by all of the usual multitudes of alphabet governing bodies; but from the day the contract was signed to tonight’s final bell, there was never a real hint of doubt that the champion would fail to triumph.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this is perhaps an unfair assessment. After all, there are 148 active female lightweights in world boxing and Taylor is exponentially better than almost all of them. She should be applauded for that rather than chastised, but great talent needs to be tested in order to shine to its fullest. How diminished would Ali’s legend have been without the dangerous supporting cast of Liston, Frazier, Foreman, Norton, and Holmes?

That is why we must hope that Eddie Hearn is true to his word about a rematch with Amanda Serrano. A rematch that gathers up 80,000 of the patriotic faithful at Croke Park, has all the ingredients of a fight for the ages and another flagstone laid down in the progression of women’s boxing. Let’s hope the Puerto Rican can be lured across the Atlantic, as without that challenge it’s difficult to see what else there is left still to motivate Taylor except for that longed-for Irish homecoming. It is a homecoming that deserves the right calibre of opponent to grace it.

Earlier in the night victory for Taylor had proved characteristically straightforward. Maybe at 36 some of the sharpness is inevitably becoming dulled, but she was still levels above her game opponent. From the first bell, Taylor pitched her flag in centre ring and peppered Carabajal with well-timed jabs. In the second, the argentine strived for a semblance of a foothold but despite her efforts, Taylor’s superior movement meant that little of her perspiration resulted in any reward.

At the midway point, the challenger received a nasty cut close to her right eye, which steadily dripped crimson throughout the remainder of the contest. For those at ringside, it required little artistic imagination to identify this as a physical embodiment of the hopelessness of the task that awaited Carabajal throughout the second half of the contest. Nevertheless, the challenger is deserved of merit for seeing the fight through to its inevitable conclusion, despite an under-tested Taylor gradually releasing her foot from the throttle in the fights closing stanzas. Near shutouts were registered [99-91, 100-91 and 98-92]] on all three of the judges’ cards.

In the other big bout of the night, Cambridgeshire’s Jordan Gill relinquished his European featherweight belt and a potential shot at the IBF crown following a devastating working over by the indomitable Kiko Martinez. The Spaniard [now 44-11-2, 31KOs] and at the advanced age of 36 may look a little weathered but he carries in that unnerving, granite tough, heavily tattooed visage; the look of someone that informally ‘owns’ the exercise yard in a maximum-security prison. Entering the ring on the back of a stoppage loss to Josh Warrington [for the IBF world title] Gill and his team must have calculated that there was little of the old scrapper left behind that increasingly lined face.

Sadly, for Gill, who looked like a million dollars entering the ring, they woefully miscalculated. In flashes, the Chatteris resident looked slick and capable, and he had previously proved his ability to go to the well when stopping Karim Guerfi following two perforated eardrums when claiming the European belt eight months prior, but tonight Martinez was always one step ahead of him.

Gill [now 27-2-1, 8KOs] proved to be no match for the relentless come-forward pressure of Martinez, who put the now ex-champion down four times, before definitively ending the contest with a pulverizing left hook in round 4. To Gill’s credit, he beat the count, but both referee Giuseppe Quartarone and Dave Coldwell in his corner had seen enough. Post-fight Martinez was quick to call out Leigh Wood for a shot at his WBA strap rather than a rematch with Warrington for the IBF version of the world title.

In the evening’s other bout for title recognition, ever-popular Catford puncher Ellie Scotney [now 6-0, 0KOs] made it a sixth straight career success on her way to bagging her first professional title against experienced Mary Romero [Now 8-3, 2KOs]. Her Spanish opponent had held the European super-bantamweight crown for close to three years until Scotney outworked her over ten rounds on the way to a unanimous points success [96-94, 97-94 and 97-93].

Photo Credit: Getty Images