Ireland's former Olympic champion Katie Taylor has made her professional boxing debut with a win in London tonight.
The London 2012 gold medallist beat Poland's Karina Kopinska with a third round stoppage at Wembley Arena, in the same city where she reached the Olympic pinnacle just over four years ago.
Taylor's pro debut tonight came after 15 years as an amateur and having achieved five consecutive world titles, six European titles and becoming Olympic champion in 2012.
Taylor is due to fight on Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua's card in December and is being lined up to fight on a card on St Patrick's weekend when middleweight superstar Gennady Golovkin is due to defend his titles.
And future title fights were on the Bray boxer's mind after her triumph.
REACTION: @KatieTaylor: "This is only the start." The dream is to fight for a world title. Sky Sports 2 HD now: https://t.co/i020kTDVb6 pic.twitter.com/6zHx3HFFEG
— Sky Sports Boxing 👊 (@SkySportsBoxing) November 26, 2016
And she has given herself the perfect launchpad for those upcoming challenges after a tough year earlier in 2016 in Rio and at the World Championships when she suffered setbacks in terms of results in comparison to the extraordinary years that had proceeded those tournaments.
After Rio, she had set her sights on leaving amateur boxing behind and bringing her deserved legend status into the professional sphere.
In the end tonight in London, it proved to be an impressive debut in the pro ranks with the referee stepping in 58 seconds into the third round to call a halt to proceedings with Kopinska struggling against the ropes as Taylor pressed her advantage.
With the win secured, promoter Eddie Hearn set out the future ambitions, including a title fight in Dublin at some point on the horizon:
.@EddieHearn: It's going to be a great journey as @KatieTaylor starts her world title path: https://t.co/i020kTDVb6 https://t.co/EneyQ5Wynu
— Sky Sports Boxing 👊 (@SkySportsBoxing) November 26, 2016
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