Not on the box
Tags: Today, Katie Taylor from Bray took the next step in retaining her World Lightweight Championship, qualifying for the final in grand style. The big final takes place tomorrow, November 29, but don’t bother trying to get to see it, none of the television stations are showing it.
Katie is European and European Union lightweight champion as well as World Champion, yet gets no television coverage, and receives just a cursory “and finally tonight” mention on radio news. Is women’s boxing considered a no-go area for TV? Do they think the concept is just a bridge too far? I’ve emailed RTE and have yet to get a response, but there has to be some reason for this lack of coverage.
Ireland loves boxing. Just look at the amount of attention the lads got in Beijing, and the well-deserved congratulations afterwards. Between them they won three medals and, without disparaging them in any way, they were all runners-up.
This country has traditionally lacked world-class athletes and, when one of our lot qualify for anything, the country goes mad. Katie, however, is a champion, an Irish champion and we hear nothing about her, let alone see her in the ring.
I was chatting to an ex-colleague of mine, who is a sports writer, about Katie and he was so enthusiastic it was delightful. In his opinion, she is the best boxer Ireland has ever produced – male or female. He told me that, at the Men’s 2007 AIBA World Boxing Championships Chicago there was a showcase for women’s boxing. This culminated in a fight between the PanAmerican Champion, Katie Dunn, and the European Champion, Katie Taylor. Katie won without giving away a single point. That’s how good she is.
So what is wrong with women’s boxing? Is it considered too masculine? Too aggressive? If you think so, you’ve never seen it. Amateur boxing (both men’s and women’s) is a technical sport, all about placing punches and garnering points. It’s not about bludgeoning someone into within an inch of their lives. It’s incredibly skillful as well as athletic and, when done at Katie’s level, is an absolute joy to watch.
Pity we won’t get to.
You can, however, be comforted by the fact that, when Katie is fighting at around 9am Irish time, you can watch Dangerfield on RTE1 and Club Disney on RTE2, Top Chef on TV3 or Scooby-Doo on TG4.
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Good report here on rte.ie, http://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2008/1128/taylork.html, and great to see her getting some support.
The woman is such a role model for all females, but espeically those interested in boxing.
Its ridiculous the lack of coverage that it gets, and female boxing overall. When will it be taken seriously? When its an olympic sport?
Fat chance..
G’wan Katie!
I see her around a lot as she lives around the corner from me. Her brother also won Young Scientist of the Year for some complex mathematical formula. Talented family.
I entirely agree with HAL and the other comments. Coverage of womens boxing, indeed womens sport in general in both Britain and in Ireland is apalling.Onl;y about 4 per cent coverage. ,for approx 51 percent of the population. I have written about KT’s exploits in China on the BBC 606 website blogs with coverage of all of her bouts in China and also on the EuropeanIrish.com website daily.
For those who have NOT seen Katie in action (I watched her win the European EU Gold in Liverpool in August) you can see her in action on Setanta Sports Ireland on 3rd December at 20.00hrs in the Athena Media documentary “Winning Women”. Apart from her boxing skills enjoy her European Championship soccer “brilliant goal” which would be a contender for any “Goal of the Season” on ‘Match of the Day”. Well done,Hal for highlighting the lack of coverage of these Championships. Good news is that womens boxing is almost certain to be included in the London Olympics of 2012……For those who wish to “see” the LIVE coverage albeit scores only in tomorrow’s Final in Ningbo City just look at the Front page of the AIBA website http://www.aiba.org As it is the 7th Final tomorrow it is unlikely to start much before 7a.m Irish time perhaps a little later. Here is what the AIBA website had to say about Katie’s performance today:
“Four other world champs did advance including the very impressive Katie Taylor of Ireland. Her final scoreline of 20:2 against Ayzznat Gadzhieva was the exact reflection of her dominance. Too quick, too agile and too strong, she toyed with Gadzhievam, who, much to her credit, didn’t give up. Taylor, 22, will now take on Chinese two-times national champion Dong Cheng in the 60kg final.”"
Mike/ Sports Journalist/London
Terrible to think that sportswomen are left out. It’s also true of people who excel in sports which are less popular.
We go wild if the football team win won match and yet someone as talented as this goes unnoticed
She won!!!
Fair play to our Champ!
Excellent win, and look, she made the front page of the sports section in the times. http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/. No pic though, she’s only a world champion. Again. There was some other sport that needed our attention. 13-2, she wiped the floor with her! I look forward to hopefully some day seeing this woman in action..
I can’t believe it looks likey it will be included in the 2012 Olympics!
will try a try and upload the final from Ningbo on YouTube over the next few days. She is a class act and is easily Ireland’s most determined and skilled athlete since Roy Keane. Glad I had the opportunity to see her perfom
Manchuriancandidate that would be fantastic! If you can do it thanks from Katie’s fans who never get to see her in ation. If not, thanks for trying
I agree with the comment re Roy Keane, Katie does, however, seem to have a better relationship with the reporters who bother to interview her. I wonder will she have a musical written about her?
[...] few months ago, I moaned about the fact the World Champion boxer Katie Taylor (with her Sportswoman of the Year trophy, left) [...]
Hopefully the press will cop on when the decision is made in august by the IOC to allow women boxers in the olympic games.
Welcome to Gaelick, KTSC! Excellent to hear that there’s a Supporter’s Club out there – I hadn’t realised there was one! When did you guys set up?
Great news about women’s boxing in the 2012 Olympics. Australia should be represented by some strong talent
[...] Not on the box [...]