Katie Taylor will face an undefeated challenger in her next title defense.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that Argentina’s Karen Elizabeth ‘La Burbuja’ Carabajal will be next in line for Ireland’s Taylor, who is putting her undisputed lightweight championship on the line. The fight will headline a DAZN show on October 29 from the OVO Arena Wembley in London, with the event expected to be confirmed in the coming days.
Carabajal (19-0, 2KOs) will fight outside of his native Argentina for the first time in more than nine years as a professional, and will also enter the first title fight of his career.
The 32-year-old undefeated contender from Buenos Aires primarily campaigns as a junior lightweight, but has previously fought at the 135-pound limit. Carabajal enters the fight off the back of a points win in April, following his only two career knockout wins of his which came in back-to-back fights in 2021.
Taylor (21-0, 6KO) will attempt the seventh defense of his undisputed championship and the 14th overall defense of at least one lightweight title since 2017. In fact, the weigh-in for this upcoming fight will mark the fifth anniversary of his October 2017 WBA lightweight title victory over Anahi Esther Sánchez, which took place on the Anthony Joshua-Carlos Takam undercard in Cardiff, Wales.
Taylor has since completely unified the lightweight division and also enjoyed a one-fight stint at junior welterweight, where she claimed the WBO title to become a two-division champion. She enters this title defense on the heels of her split decision win over seven-division champion Amanda Serrano in their blockbuster April 30 all-star pound-for-pound fight in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York. York.
The Fight of the Year-level battle naturally generated the demand for an immediate rematch. Efforts were made to secure such a fight, though the two will go their separate ways for the time being. For Taylor, it means a return to the UK and the same place where he made his professional debut in November 2016 following his second Olympic tour.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
