Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova is the mandatory defense match of the WBA world lightweight championship belt that Katie Taylor holds right now. Her other world championship belts are also up for grabs, including the Ring Magazine belt, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight championship belt, the World Boxing Organization (WB) championship belt, and the World Boxing Council (WBC) championship belt. The fight will be aired on DAZN on Saturday, 7 PM at the M&S Bank Arena in England. The subscription for the streaming in DAZN is $8.99 per month. The Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova match will start at about 9.45 PM. The final confirmation about the timings will be done on the night.
There will be a rematch if Taylor loses her belts in the Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova match. If Katie gets her expected victory, she will be free to start preparing for her long-anticipated match against Armanda Serrano in New York. The latter will have her final warm-up match in the country on December 18 in Florida against another past Taylor rival Miriam Gutierrez. But one can never be entirely sure before the match ends. Sharipova has a much greater probability of retaining her belts in the Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova match. At the same time, there is an even lesser probability of a draw. The bookies say that it is highly probable the champ will gain victory inside the distance. She last won a match before the end of the rounds a couple of years ago.
Sharipova can give a tough fight in the Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova match
Firuza Sharipova is a mother of one and is the first pro female boxer from Kazakhstan. She has only been defeated in fifteen professional matches and has obtained minor belts at super lightweight, lightweight, and super-featherweight. The fighter lost her first pro match nearly five years ago against the Russian Sofia Ochigava. She was defeated by Katie Taylor in the London Olympics for the gold medal almost a decade ago. The professional career of Ochigava never really took off. She is now a member of the backroom team of Sharipova. The training camp was located in a snowy forest on the outskirts of Moscow. The team released a video of Sharipova, who cut down a tree with an ax. It looked just like a scene from one of the Rocky films. The Kazakh boxer does not have a decent punch, but she has a better knock-out rate than Taylor. But she has not faced the same quality of rivals.
More than five out of her thirteen wins were against fighters making their professional debuts. She has only fought against less than five boxers with winning records. "No one else knows how to fight Taylor like Sofya Ochigava. Therefore, not only I, Firuza Sharipova, will be in the ring against Taylor, but the intelligence of Sofya Ochigava, who has prepared me very well for this fight, will be with me. Sofya has been in my camp from the very beginning and has passed on all her knowledge. I watched their fight in the final of the Olympic Games, and I'm sure that the judges helped Taylor. Sofya was better in the fight. She won it. Anything can happen in boxing. In the media, many people call me an underdog. But I will prove that I was underestimated. I am flying to Liverpool to win the hearts of the whole world and take the belts from Katie Taylor."
"I just love staying sharp, really. You can do all the sparring in the world. Still, nothing is ever the same as actually stepping into the ring and actually fighting. I've never found it hard to actually get up and keep myself motivated for these obligations. I understand that these girls are coming for all my belts, and we're going to see the best of these opponents every time they step into the ring with me. You see it always in boxing where fighters have a flat performance, and they fail to hold onto their belts. So, I can never, ever get complacent. I'm so aware of that."
Eddie Hearn airs his concerns over Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova match
Matchroom promotions boss Eddie Hearn has warned Taylor not to take her unknown rival Sharipova for granted in the Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova match. Many fans believe that the Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova match should be a mandatory title challenge the next night. Eddie Hearn is experienced enough to know which opponents of the champ need to be seen with caution. The multi-millionaire promoter has guided the champ to the top of the boxing world. He admits to having a peculiar feeling about the Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova match. Although Sharipova does not look to be in the champ's same class, the promoter cannot shake the feeling that she could surprise all the fans in the Katie Taylor vs. Firuza Sharipova match. One of the reasons is the size of her delegation.
Sharipova is one of the trailblazers for female fighters in her native country. She became the first female pro boxer in the country nearly five years ago. Government officials are going to be part of her entourage. It is the boxers' attitude that has put the promoter on red alert. The entourage has said that they are not residing in the same hotel room as the champ's party. But this is the usual protocol before a world championship fight. The cold weather is also a source of irritation for the party. But Sharipova's training camp was in a snow-covered forest on the outskirts of Moscow. So, she should not be too disturbed by the weather. The facilities in the gym are also not up to scratch, and the promoter says that this is a genuine grievance.
"There are probably seven or eight in her team, and then there's everyone else who's come with her. They're very serious people. She comes with a big reputation, a lot of support, and it's been quite difficult, to be honest with you. They're not particularly happy about anything. It's very difficult now because of Covid: gyms are shut in hotels. The worrying thing is they're taking it very seriously. You see a lot of people turn up, 'Oh, thank you so much for the opportunity.' They're like: 'We have to get this right. We're winning this fight, and we can't have anything get in the way of our preparation.' That's a bit worrying. They're not just here to make up the numbers. And there's a lot unknown about her. Like, if you watch her, she can punch, she's quite unorthodox, very tough... I don't know…”
“She's either just a solid fighter or really, really good and really dangerous. I hope it's just the first one, to be honest with you. Katie wants the second one! But we just want to get through this fight and then, obviously, (Amanda) Serrano looms."
- Nationality: Irish
- Date of Birth: July 2, 1986
- Height: 5'5"
- Reach: 65"
- Total Fights: 19
- Record: 19-0 (6 KOs)
- Nationality: Kazakhstani
- Date of Birth: August 29, 1984
- Height: 5'5 1/2"
- Reach: 65"
- Total Fights: 15
- Record: 14-1, 8 KOs
- Joe McGrail v Francisco Rodriguez, 4 rounds at super-bantamweight
- Callum French v Rustem Fatkhullin, 6 rounds at super-lightweight
- Jordan Gill v Alan Isaias Luques Castillo, 8 rounds at featherweight
- Paddy Lacey v Vasif Mamedov, 4 rounds at super-welterweight
DAZN Main card
- Caoimhan Agyarko v Noe Larios Jr, 10 rounds for the WBA International middleweight title
- Peter McGrail v Engel Gomez, 6 rounds at super-bantamweight
- Joe Cordina v Miko Khatchatryan, 10 rounds for the WBA Continental super-featherweight title
- Robbie Davies Jr v Henry Lundy, 10 rounds for the WBA Continental super-featherweight title
- Katie Taylor v Firuza Sharipova, 10 rounds for the undisputed women's lightweight title
- Conor Benn v Chris Algieri, 12 rounds for the WBA Continental welterweight title