Pete Taylor time in the corner of his daughter has come to an end.
The boxing coach has been synonymous with Katie Taylor's incredible success over the last decade but wasn't part of her training entourage for the Rio Olympics in which she was controversially defeated by Finland's Mira Potkonen, ending the defence of the Olympic gold she won in London in 2012.
Pete Taylor announced last November that he was taking a break from coaching his daughter and has since announced that he will not be returning to international coaching any time soon, and nor will he be available to train his daughter.
Speaking to the Sun, he said:
I'm not interested in international boxing anymore. Obviously I'm not saying I'm not interested in Katie. Obviously I'm interested in Katie. But as far as travelling and doing the things that you have to do. I'm not interested anymore.
I’ll always be Katie’s biggest fan. She is the most talented female boxer in the world. I maybe underappreciated her as well, what she achieved.
I don’t think we’ll ever win five world titles and six Europeans ever again. If you ever wanted a role model for how to train and dedication, Katie was that. Her discipline and training, the effort she put into training.
Taylor also maintains that the Irish Amateur Boxing Association has been "a mess" since Billy Walsh departed to coach the United States team, claiming that there is "too much politics" in the IABA.
Nonetheless, Taylor still says that any boxer who comes to his Bray Boxing Club will receive his full attention.
For me now it’s gone. I’m moving on now. It’s water under the bridge. We had good success in London but it was never going to be good enough for Rio. You have got to move on.
I’m willing to help people, any boxer who comes down the club, I will train them. It’s like a family between the clubs — they all help each other.
There’s hundreds of great club coaches in this country and they all do a lot of work like I’m doing here.
[The Sun]
