KELLY Morgan is hoping to benefit from the spotlight being placed on female boxing.

With former Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor making her professional debut on a Matchroom Boxing show live on Sky Sports this evening, female boxing has been thrust into the limelight.

Taylor will also be fighting on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s IBF heavyweight title defence next month as well as being pencilled in to appear at Madison Square Garden in New York when pound-for-pound king Gennady Golovkin defends his middleweight crowns in January.

However, it is not just in this country where the ladies have been taking centre stage as American super-middleweight Claressa Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, made her professional bow on the undercard of Andre Ward’s massive light-heavyweight success over Sergey Kovalev last weekend in Las Vegas.

And with Morgan still trying to nail down a firm date for her WBC super-middleweight title shot with Nikki Adler, the 2002 Commonwealth Game javelin bronze medallist is hoping that all this publicity for the sport is a good thing.

“We are all part of female boxing, so there is no doubt I’m hoping that I can benefit from all this,” the WBC Silver middleweight champion told the Advertiser.

“I’m about to fight for a WBC world title and it doesn’t get much bigger than that.

“The promoters are starting to take notice now and I can feel that changes are about to lift off – it is crazy.

“It is amazing to see what is happening. You had Claressa Shields make her professional debut in the States last weekend, you’ve got Katie Taylor with Matchroom and Cecilia Braekhus is about to headline the first professional show in Norway since the 1980s.”

Meanwhile, Morgan says that she has been frustrated in her attempt to secure a date for her world title clash with Adler.

The 36-year-old was hoping to face the German champion this side of Christmas, however, with no date forthcoming, she tapered down her training and is now looking towards a date in February.

“It is frustrating that we couldn’t get a date before Christmas,” she said. “From what we are hearing now, it is looking like it will be the first weekend in February.

“We are aware that date could change, but it allowed me to have six days off – the longest I’ve had off in 18 months. It was amazing to have that time off, the body really needed.

“Now I’m in a two-week pre-camp before returning to training on December 5.”