Katie Taylor, Olympic Champ May Pursue a Pro Run

Olympic Games champion Katie Taylor may turn professional after what she feels was "a terrible year" for women’s boxing.

The Irish fighter could abandon a planned defence of her Olympic title in 2016, saying women's boxing has taken a step backwards.

Taylor, a superstar in her country, became one of the faces of the London Games last year by playing the lead role in women's boxing's Olympic Games debut.

She pledged to remain an amateur to compete in the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 but she is now "flirting" with the pro ranks, laying the blame on boxing's governing body and the sport's Irish authorities.

"This has been a terrible year for me," Taylor, who turned down a number of professional contracts last year, was quoted as saying in the Irish Independent newspaper on Friday.

The European championships in July, she said, were “just a fight in a little tent in front of 100 people. It was really badly organised... For an Olympic medallist to be fighting in front of that kind of crowd, it was just disappointing. It looked like women's boxing was taking a step backwards."

Taylor, a former international soccer player, bemoaned the lack of progress made by the International Amateur Boxing Association in opening its new professional league to women.

The Association has established AIBA Professional Boxing (APB) and the World Series of Boxing (WSB) to stop losing boxers to the traditional professional ranks by offering male fighters a living while still allowing them a shot at Olympic gold.

Taylor's trainer, her father Peter, has been trying to get information regarding any plans to extend WSB to female boxers but has not received answers, the 27-year-old lightweight champion said.

"This should have been the year when the WSB was set up and [for women} to capitalise on what happened last year.

"It will be hard to get the motivation if this WSB doesn't go ahead. I feel a bit frustrated stepping backwards instead of pushing on from last year."

AIBA president Wu Ching-Kuo said last year he would examine the possibility of extending the new professional leagues to include women.

The governing body said on Friday it would consider a women's WSB in the future, but it was not foreseen for the time being because of a range of technical and organisational reasons.

The AIBA said it took Taylor's opinion seriously but pointed to the record number of competitors taking part in the second junior world championships for women in Bulgaria as proof that it was committed to developing the sport.

"We all admire Katie and recognise that any frustration she feels stems from her sincere passion for the sport. However, we have to disagree that ... women's boxing is going backwards," the organisation said in a statement sent to Reuters.