Bray Homecoming for Katie Taylor on November 30th – by Michael O’Neill

(OCT 16) Olympic Champion Katie Taylor will return to ring on Saturday, November 30th at the Ballywaltrim Community Centre in her hometown of Bray, Co Wicklow. The bout against Finland’s Mira Potkonen will see Taylor continue on “The Road to Rio”, a journey she is hoping will end with a second Olympic Gold at the 2016 games in Brazil.

Since dedicating her historic boxing victory to her home town at her post Olympic homecoming in Bray last summer that attracted more than 20,000 adoring fans, Katie has wanted to show her gratitude for the continuous support from the locals – “It’s with great pleasure that I can finally return to the ring and box in Bray, I am delighted that I can give something back to my local community, who have extended such overwhelming support for me over the years” said Taylor.

Having secured a fifth successive European Union title by defeating Estelle Mossely of France at the European Union Championships earlier this year Katie says “I’ve been training hard all summer and am really looking forward to boxing at home against a top class European opponent in preparation for future titles.” “It’s great that local fans will have the chance to see me box on a more personable level” added Katie.

Since winning the Olympics it’s undoubtedly been a whirlwind year for Irish sporting hero Taylor who also launches her new website this week www.katietaylor.ie “I’m really looking forward to my website going live. I hope that through my blog posts, videos and updates on my training and various activities that I can engage more with my supporters and allow them to share in my journey on the road to Rio” says Katie, whose fans can also soon follow her on Twitter @katietaylorIre

Her father and trainer Pete says preparations are already well advanced for Katie’s return to the ring. “Katie’s incredibly driven. She strives to continuously improve and wants to keep winning. Hopefully everything we are doing here will lead to the next Olympics in Rio and that’s the long term goal but in the medium term it’s about defending her European and World titles next year and obviously the short term goal is this fight on November 30th”.

A member of the community added “After the excitement of Katie’s fights at the Olympics last summer the locals in Bray and the surrounding areas are ecstatic that the Ballywaltrim Community Centre will be transformed into a boxing arena for Katie’s homecoming in November”.

Olympian and 3 time Irish senior Boxing Champion and Co.Wexford Native Adam Nolan will also box at “The Homecoming”.

Tickets for “The Homecoming” priced from €20 go on sale at 9am on Thursday, October 17th, and are available from the Martello Hotel, Bray tel. (01) 01) 2868000 and the Ballywaltrim Community Centre tel. (01) 2040856. Doors open on Saturday, November 30th at 7pm.