A big year in store for 2020 has everything to do with the biggest physical version of Katie Taylor showing up for her final fight of this year.

The 2012 Olympic Gold medalist and two-time Olympian from Ireland and reigning World lightweight queen looks to become a two-division champ as she challenges 140-pound titlist Christina Linardatou (12-1, 6KOs). Their clash—which headlines this Saturday's bill at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.—marks the first ever appearance at this weight, having fought as a lightweight throughout the heart of her amateur run and the entirety of her pro career to date.

“I've done a lot of strength work for this fight to build some extra muscle and I have been able to eat a few more calories than I normally would,”  Taylor (14-0, 6KOs) told BoxingScene.com of the process in bulking up for Saturday’s headliner, which airs live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and DAZN in the United States. “Outside of that it’s pretty much the same.

“It will be nice not to have to lose those last couple of pounds to make 135, but going back to lightweight won’t be an issue either. In the long term my intention would be to jump back and forth between 135 and 140 and make the biggest fights out there in those divisions.”

The bout will mark Taylor’s first fight back in the U.K. since a 3rd round knockout of Kimberly Connor last summer. Four straight have taken place in the U.S., including title unification wins over Rose Volante and Delfine Persoon in her two most recent contests. While her star remains on the rise, there was also the issue of being missed by her adoring fans on the other side of the Atlantic.

“Most of Katie’s recent fights have been in the US but her pro career started out in the UK and Adam Smith from Sky Sports has been really keen to have Katie back on this side of the pond for a while,” Brian Peters, Taylor’s longtime manager explained to BoxingScene.com.  “It gives Irish and UK audiences a chance to see her in primetime. Once it became clear that the opportunity was there to do that I worked with Eddie (Hearn, Taylor’s promoter) and Adam to see what was the best fight we could deliver.

“Obviously we all want to see the (Amanda) Serrano fight and the Persoon rematch but the Serrano fight is really a main event for New York early next year and Sky sees the November 2nd fight in Manchester as potentially a step to building towards a Persoon rematch as a major event in the UK next summer. It also gives Katie an opportunity to test the waters at 140 ahead of a possible fight with Ceclilia Braekhus. Cecilia is now under the Matchroom banner so it should mean that fight is very easy to make.”

First up is her bid to bump off Greece’s Linardatou, who rides a four fight win streak and is eighth former, current or future titlist Taylor will face in her last nine starts. A title win barely gives her a chance to savor the flavor, as waiting in the wings is a super fight with seven-division titlist and fellow pound for pound entrant Amanda Serrano, along with unfinished business with Persoon, both of which will take place in her normal weight division.

“I don't have any issue making lightweight,” insists Taylor, who has never weighed heavier than 134½ pounds for any given fight. “With the likes of the Amanda Serrano fight and the Delfine Persoon rematch looking more likely for the first half of next year, I wanted another big challenge to end this year so the opportunity to become a two-weight world champion was too big to turn down.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox