Belfast boxer recalls Katie Taylor's historic fight ahead of Dublin swansong

A Belfast boxer who fought Katie Taylor in a pioneering boxing bout nearly 25 years ago, has recalled her memories of the encounter, as the renowned Irish fighter prepares to sign off on a glittering career.

As a 15-year-old amateur in October 2001, Taylor fought Alanna Nihell, then known as Alanna Audley, in the first women's fight sanctioned by the Irish boxing authorities.

Taylor's long-awaited farewell fight at Croke Park in Dublin is set to be confirmed on Friday.

Although an opponent is not yet confirmed, the World Boxing Council (WBC) earlier this week said Taylor and unbeaten French fighter Flora Pili will fight for the vacant WBC light-welterweight title.

Nihell, from Sandy Row in south Belfast, said that looking back now, her fight with Taylor in 2001 at Dublin's National Stadium was an important milestone for women's boxing.

"On that day, the 15-year-old and 16-year-old girls didn't realise how much of an impact that night would have in the future," she told BBC News NI.

"It was massive, it was the building block in the right direction for female boxers, especially in Ireland.

"It wasn't allowed, there was no female boxing back then.

"For us to have the first sanctioned amateur [female] boxing fight in Ireland, it was huge.

"It was just exciting because I was getting to actually fight a girl and it was the same for Katie. The standing ovation at the end we got was immense."

She added that Taylor's range of boxing skills were impressive at a tender age.

Taylor later claimed five World Championship golds at amateur level from 2006 to 2014, as well as a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London.

The County Wicklow boxer has held multiple world titles as a professional.

Nihell, who went on to represent Ireland, Northern Ireland and GB as an amateur boxer, also reflected on the difficulties of getting established as a teenage female boxer, in a different era, in an interview with BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster.

"It was hard to get accepted," she said.

"We had to push for it, when I got accepted into my [boxing] club it was breaking down the barriers."

She hailed Irish boxer Deirdre Gogarty, who fought on the undercard of Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno's 1996 WBC heavyweight clash in the US, as an inspiration.

She also stressed the importance of Taylor and her developing alongside boxers such as Carl Frampton, Paddy Barnes and the late Darren Sutherland in high-performance Ireland programmes.

"Me and Katie, to be on that high-performance programme with these lads, who were decorated amateurs in their own right, we were round that high-end of boxing that brought us on even more."

Nihell, who claimed a bronze medal with Northern Ireland, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, is the elder sister of Lewis Crocker, who last year was crowned IBF world welterweight champion.

"I got him into boxing at six, he came into the gym with me, he was one of those kids you know just has it," she said.

"He had it from day one.

"He watched me box as a youngster and now to look at him is great, he is a world champion."

She has represented the Army as a boxer and met her husband Chez through its squad.

Now she is a boxing coach in England and was in her husband's corner, for his first professional contest in London in 2019, on the undercard, as Chris Eubank Jr beat former super-middleweight world champion James DeGale.

"I boxed with the Army, I now coach with the Army, I now have a job with Team GB as a performance coach."

Nihell says she remains good friends with Taylor and her focus is now on obtaining a ticket for the fighter's Croke Park swansong.

"When this announcement is out I am booking my flights," she added.

"It is massive I am not just her friend, I am a fan as well.

"She has flown the flag for us from day one and to be a part of her journey, watch that growth with the Irish boxing and females progress and progress, is something I am really proud of.

"To play a part in history is something massive, I am so grateful that I was that little piece at the start."