Andy Lee wants Ireland’s most successful boxer to fight on his Thomond Park undercard

This could be historic

The chance to get to see Katie Taylor in action inside the ring are normally limited to her appearances at the Irish championships. The Bray woman is usually fighting at European or World level, but it seems that her next major action could be in Limerick this September. Andy Lee and his next challenger Billy Joe Saunders were in London today for the promotion of their fight at Thomond Park on September 19, and Lee was asked about the possibility of having the Olympic champion on the same card. And his response would indicate that he is very much in favour of having the multiple world and Euro champion fight in the home of Munster rugby

"I’m championing women’s boxing and I’m championing equal rights.”

If Taylor was to fight on the same card as a professional title fight it would be an extraordinary leap for women's amateur boxing, and tonight her father Pete Taylor has confirmed to Boxingnewsonline that talks about a possible fight, including his daughter, are underway

"She could possibly be boxing on that, we’re just waiting for confirmation from AIBA." “It would be brilliant. She boxed on the Bernard Dunne show before and she got a great reception to fight just before Bernard. There were 10,000 people there. She was on the same team as [Andy Lee] when he was an amateur and we know Andy really well. To box on that show would be unbelievable. It would be a great showcase for female boxing and amateur boxing as well"

Taylor also has intimated that the Olympic champion will consider turning pro after the Rio 2016, but only if the level of competition matches that of the amateur ranks currently

"I think she’ll consider her pro options. I don’t think there’s the strength in depth there really in the pros at the moment. I think all the top female boxers are still amateur. I think when the competition gets stronger, I think if it does get stronger after Rio, I think she would consider going pro then. At the moment amateur boxing’s much stronger than professional women’s boxing."