f there's magic in boxing, it's the magic of "ghting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, beyond ruptured kidneys. . . It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you Eddie Dupris, 'Million Dollar Baby'

A QUICK glance, and there is nothing to it. The closest anyone came to denying her was in the final and that she still won with 17 points to spare. Her biggest worry going to India wasn't any opponent but a nose fractured in two places, yet that came through without another crack. Katie Taylor went confidently, she boxed confidently and she won confidently. At 20, she was a world champion.

A deeper stare though, and there is everything to it. Even if she was a tom boy; even if her father had boxed for Ireland; even if her brothers were trying to make his gloves fit;

even if her mother was the first female referee and judge in the country long before her daughter could reach the bottom rope, did any of them really want her getting involved in such a sport? In the end it was chance.

One evening nine years ago, a father was bringing his daughter to athletics training before he went on to coach at the boxing club he had started in Bray. Problem was athletics had been cancelled and he couldn't get a babysitter.

Suddenly a young girl was sitting on a step in a makeshift gym, initially too shy to join in, ultimately too curious to turn away. "It wasn't like I was sitting there in a room full of strangers. My dad was there.

I knew he was an Irish champion. I always used to watch him training for all these competitions and he was my dad so I thought he was the best in the world.

"Besides, I was always into sports anyway when I was younger. It was just another one to keep me going so I started sparring the first night I went in. No point in wasting time because after a little while I was sitting there anxious to give it a go and when I did, I really loved it. And at that stage the difference between girls and boys isn't that much. I think we are all pretty much the same strength. I can't really remember what other people thought of me getting involved with boxing but I think most were okay with it and I didn't find it strange because my family have always been involved. I was brought up with it being the norm so while some other people might have looked on at this and been a bit taken a back, it was nothing different for me."

In truth, she'd fought long before that night anyway. Her soccer coach at Newtown, Hugh Nolan, still remembers how she found it tough to find a club after leaving St Fergal's. He knew better and went out of his way to sign her yet others still wouldn't consider her despite the obvious talent. It didn't stop there. More than once, she humiliated male opponents who were suddenly prepared to stop her by any means necessary. A red card was better than a red face but those tactics didn't work either.

"Guess in the end it did me no harm. Underage I was playing for the boy's team and back then for a girl to be playing on a guy's team was unusual. I think that's changed now but when I was playing it was a little strange. In fairness, the lads I played with were really good to me, because I was playing all the time with them, and I was doing really well in every match. I used to feel a little under pressure because everyone was looking at me and I had to prove myself in every match. But after I won the Wicklow Player of the Year at under-13, my name got around locally so other teams knew me as well.

"But when I was playing against Dublin teams, it was a little awkward. They were looking at me, saying 'Oh no' which was never nice but then they saw me playing and I think they shut up very quickly. But it was worth it. Me and another girl (Edel Malone of Clare) were the first girls to play in the Kennedy Cup and I got my first trial for Ireland when I was 14, that was for the under-17s, and then I got my first cap when I was 15, that was against Northern Ireland."

It was the same year that she had her first fight and ever since soccer has been pushed into the shadows despite being a member of Noel King's senior set up.

A look at her record and it's easy to see why. Twice she's been the European champion, she's ranked number one in the world and last month she showed why at the World Championships. But for someone so calm and laid back, there have still been irritations along the way. Having worked hard and sparred hard, she did some exhibitions but Irish law meant she couldn't fight and it stayed that way until she was 15.

Then there were the defeats. Four of them in total, all dubious. True champions crave perfection but her record was taken away from her long ago.

"I think the bad decisions are what annoy me most and they are the worst things to have happened to me. Boxing is such a corrupt sport and the politics involved, you can get caught up very quickly.

It's why it can be so difficult to beat the Russians - the politics involved. My first loss ever was in the first European Championships I competed in against a Russian and it was very hard to take. I lost twice to a Turkish girl and lost to a Korean as well. The two times I lost to the Turkish girl I thought I beat her.

"But I suppose as a boxer for that to be the worst that's happened you, well put it this way, it could be a lot worse.

Like, I've never really been badly hurt. With the head gear it tends to be okay. And the referees as well. If they think you are taking too much punishment, they'll stop the fight or give you a count. So it's a safe enough sport and I've been lucky never to pick up any injury."

What about your nose?

"Oh yeah, I fractured it in sparring a while back. But it's a safe sport, really, and I didn't even know it at the time. I was sparring with one of the lads in the club in Bray and he caught me with a good left hook. I didn't know. My nose doesn't really bleed normally, but I thought nothing of it and I just kept sparring on. I went over to Denmark and had three fights. I had to pull out of the final of the tournament over there then. My nose was so swollen and every time I got a bang it hurt so much, so I just couldn't box in the final.

I got a few accidental head butts too but the doctors over there said it definitely wasn't broken, and that I could box on but when I got an x-ray done, I had two fractures. So I was lucky to get back for the World Championships even though it really hampered my training.

I couldn't spar or anything leading up to them. I wasn't sure how my nose would hold out if I got hit."

It wasn't all that hampered her. The boxing club in Bray was only available two nights a week. If Taylor wanted to go all the way, she needed six. That's where the kitchen came in.

More often than not, the table was pushed to one side and the tiles became a canvas as her and her dad performed their art. There was the garden shed too, where a bag and a few weights allowed her to push herself to the limit each evening.

"We only had the community centre and it was booked up much of the rest of the time. They have this premises down by the harbour for boxing but even still they haven't given over the keys and if I wanted to go away and win gold that was never going to be enough, so we had to train in the house. But I had the National Boxing Stadium there as well. It wasn't really convenient but I didn't mind travelling out to the stadium because I got great sparring from the lads out there."

by the poverty. Outside the hotel she was staying, crowds converged looking for a lifeline.

Each day, there were different bodies lying on the streets, corpses for whom the lifeline never came.

"It's not somewhere I'd go back to in a hurry. It was really shocking. When you travel to box, you never really get to see the countries, you're mind is just away from all that and you are training. And in this case I was glad in a way. I just stayed in the hotel all week and besides, it was a very busy schedule. But it went as planned.

"The opening three bouts were over well before the distance but it was the semi-final I had an eye on all along. I boxed a Russian at that stage (Tatyana Chalaya), she was last year's World Champion. I had beaten her in the Europeans and that fight was like the decider. She had a great reputation but I beat her 23-6.

I stopped her in the Europeans but she was different this time. She wasn't really committing to her punches all that much so it was more tactical. Then in the final I boxed an Argentinian (Annabella Farias), I'd never heard of her before, she kind of just came on the scene, but she was pan-American champion and she was actually very strong. The first round, that was close enough, I was only a point ahead.

"But I wasn't worried. For me, the main thing is always to just relax and keep to your plan and just listen to my father in the corner. He was telling me what to do and I knew I would out-box her after that. But even though I was calm and had planned for the fight and expected to be on top, to know you've won was an amazing feeling. It was a dream come true. I'd worked really hard and trained so much for them. Everything paid off and to be World Champion. . . what can I say.

For my whole family it meant something special. All of them, even my sister who's a real girly girl. She was so delighted. And my dad, he's always really supported me. And I couldn't have won these championships without him. He was absolutely delighted. All the hard work I put in and for him too, because he's coached me all the way through, so it meant a lot for him as well, not just because I'm his daughter."

Since she's come back the offers to turn pro have been there in abundance, but there's no chance. All she wants to do is fight in an Olympics and it's why the decision not to include women's boxing in Beijing has hurt so much. Most of those she boxes against all got the same assurances, that it would be there, but now they can all only hope for London.

"I want to win a gold medal for Ireland. That's my dream, I think it's everyone's dream when they get involved in amateur boxing. So to see it not included in the next Olympics was devastating.

"We were all told that it was almost a cert to get in for Beijing. The people over it were saying it's 99 per cent sure so we presumed and were counting down to that to a certain extent. It was very disheartening but all you can do is hope.

It'll be 2012 we all hope. And I don't think the motivation will be a problem for me either. It's all I want to do and besides, I always have a few weeks off from competitions. I don't really like going out. I don't like the pub scene. I don't drink. It's training and boxing that I love.

That's my enjoyment so that will keep me going. I'll still be young in 2012 but still. . ."

She sighs and contents herself with more recent triumphs. Those she knew of and those that come as a welcome surprise.

What's it like to be nominated for Sportsperson of the Year?

"What?"

You know, on Saturday (last night).

"Am I?"

You didn't know?

"Well, I knew I was going to the awards but I didn't realise I was up for any awards. Oh, that's really great. It's been like that recently. It's all been a bit of a muddle. Like in college (Taylor is in first year in UCD studying health and fitness), I'm doing my Christmas exams at the moment. I just hope I can get through them because with everything, I've missed quite a bit. It's been so busy."

Risking everything for a dream that nobody saw but her.