Katie Taylor Fan Q&A With Steve Bunce In Dublin

Steve Bunce (0:00)

I was hoping to do a big reveal, like a three-minute chat and talk, and then introduce the superstar backstage. But we thought it was a room full of so much love and so many people that know who the superstar is backstage that it was pointless me doing it that way. Because it wouldn't have been a surprise, would it? To be honest with you. Someone else would walk through the door. So I think we need to do what we always do when it's a meet and greet, is we need to give this woman a proper stand innovation, and a scream and a shout. Because the kids love that anyway. Katie Taylor. Thank you.

I honestly, Katie, I did have a speech prepared to tell people what you've done, but I have a feeling there's enough people in this room that know more about you than I do, to be honest with you. What a room, eh?

Katie Taylor (1:06)

Yeah, it's great. Thanks so much guys for being here. I'm excited each is all. I'm sure there's some problems in your fires here today as well, so I can't wait to hear your story as well.

Steve Bunce (1:18)

So what we're going to do is, I'll let you chat with Katie, not very much because it's about all of you people that have come out in the cold on a Saturday afternoon and then we'll take questions from the floor. Any questions? Any questions? I can see, it looks to me like there's dozens and dozens of young fighters. As I turned in this morning into the complex, I told you this Katie, as I turned in, there was a young girl about nine years of age, ten years of age walking with her dad and carrying her headguard, something that you couldn't have seen 20 or 30 years ago. I mean, I don't know unless 10-year-old girls walk around, carry mines with headguards, it's a safety. Who knows? Stranger things have happened. It looks particularly nice to me. Now, there's a couple of things, just a bit of homework if we can. Everlast has been around since about 1910 And Everlast, if you love movies and if you love fights, so if you love Muhammad Ali, Everlast. If you love Rocky Marciano, Everlast. And for those that may be a bit more modern, if you love Rocky Balboa, who was an actor, heavyweight champion in the world, 5'7, so you know it's a film. But he had Everlast shorts as well. Everlast shorts are everywhere. And as you go through looking at modern old pictures and modern pictures and the greatest fighters in history, you see Everlast. Then you come up to the last few years and you see Katie Taylor in Everlast. You see Katie Taylor wearing no shorts. You see Katie Taylor wearing their trademark gloves. And that's because in some ways, in my opinion, Everlast is growing up in London in the 70s and the 80s. I knew liars who said they had a pair of Everlast shorts. No one knew anybody that had Everlast shorts. They were just worn by giants. You know what I mean, Katie? They were like these things that guys wore in black and white films. And Muhammad Ali wore them when he fought George Foreman and when he fought Joe Frazier. Surely no one could have a pair. Well, sports starts here and you can have a pair. They're available.

Okay, let me ask you this. What advice would you give if one of these boys or girls walk up to you and say, Katie, what got you motivated? What do I need to do to be a fighter? What would you tell a young child?

Katie Taylor (3:37)

Well, I think, first of all, you have to love the sport. I think when I first walked into the gym, I had such a passion for my sport, and I just went for it with all my heart, and I just made sure that nobody trained harder than me. I wasn't always motivated, but I was very, very dissonant, and I think that's very, very important for every single athlete who wants to succeed. You have to be dissonant. Even when you don't feel like getting up and training, you have to show up at the gym every single day. And those are the days that make the differences between winning and losing. And you're not always going to feel like you're in the middle for training, you're not always going to feel motivated, but it's very, very important to be dissonant. And I think that's probably the most important thing for any fighter to show up day after day, week after week, month after month, to be consistent with your job.