KATIE TAYLOR has dismissed any talk of retirement.
The 36-year-old is looking forward to her next match day and hopes it will be a rematch against Chantelle Cameron.
Taylor suffered her first professional loss at the hands of Cameron on May 20 in Dublin. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist was promoted from lightweight to ultralight to challenge the 32-year-old tennis player.
On the night that was doubled as a return to Taylor’s hometown, Cameron proved too strong and too precise in the distance of 10 laps.
Having had a long career and close, tough battles with Natasha Jonas, Delfine Persoon, Amanda Serrano and Cameron, some have commented that perhaps she should retire.
“I don’t even know what retirement means. I definitely don’t feel like it’s time for me to retire,” she told RTE.
“That will happen someday in the future, but for now my goal is to secure a rematch against Chantelle.
“I fight year after year, but now I won’t end my career like that. I’m happy to go back there and perform. This is my passion and I am grateful to be doing it every day.”
Bomber Bray revealed that she has yet to see the replay of the match and added that “there are a lot of things she would do differently”.
“I think the right person won. I had to accept the loss and move on from it. I’m excited to be back in the US to start training again for the rematch.”
“It’s part of the loss,” she said. “You have to learn from it. You always learn more from your failures and disappointments [than your victories]. That’s where the growth happens in those moments.
“I will learn from this. I definitely don’t feel like I’m there. I felt very, very tired right away. I will have to go back to the drawing board.”
Meanwhile, Cameron has said she’s happy to fight Taylor again in Ireland and is ready to drop to her opponent’s natural weight of 135lbs.
