Katie Taylor set for return to action against Swedish pair

Katie Taylor will be testing a niggling wrist injury this weekend when she returns for her first competitive fights this year ahead of next month's inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Olympic lightweight champion is slated to meet Swedish pair Agnes Alexiusson and Pernilla Gustavsson in her hometown of Bray and in Kerry on Friday and Saturday.

First up is Alexiusson, the World Youth champion, at the Ballywaltrim Community Centre, followed by Gustavsson on a Trojan BC hosted show at the Listowel Community centre 24 hours later.

The double header will be the Bray BC orthodox’s first competitive fights since winning her fifth successive World title in Korea last November.

A injury to her left wrist in Korea has kept the AIBA world number one out of competitive action since, and her coach and dad, Pete Taylor, is hoping the knock is behind her.

“This is the first time out testing the injury and hopefully it will hold up. The European Games are just around the corner and we’re going in a heavy phase of training now,” he said.

Seeding

Taylor should be seeded number one for the European Games in Baku – although seeding was inexplicitly dropped for the Korean World Championships – which is a ranking AIBA tournament.

The men’s boxing event in Baku is a qualifier for October’s World Championships in Qatar which is a qualifier for the Olympic Games. The 2016 World Championships in Kazakhstan in February will act as the first qualifier for women.

If Taylor picks up enough ranking points in Baku she will go into 2016 ranked number one in the world for an unprecedented 10th successive year.

Taylor is included on a 12-strong boxing squad, which includes her fellow London 2012 Olympians Darren O'Neill and Adam Nolan, for the European Games.