From being laughed out of boxing gyms to Croke Park: How Katie Taylor changed the game

But look around the stadium and there will be something else worth noticing. Among the tens of thousands of fans, there will be young girls watching a female boxer headline one of the most iconic sporting venues in the country.

For Katie Taylor, that may ultimately mean more than any title belt. Because when the Bray woman first walked into a boxing gym as a little girl, the idea of a woman becoming the face of Irish boxing was almost unthinkable.

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In a recent interview with the Irish Times, Taylor recalled how, at around nine or 10 years of age, she had to disguise herself as a boy simply to get fights.

She remembers walking into boxing gyms and being laughed at and sniggered at and questioned over why a girl would want to box.

“I’m so happy and delighted that these young girls can come through now, they don’t have to go through the same struggles and adversity that I had to go through. the door is actually open for them,” she said, “You walk into every boxing gym now in the country, it’s packed with female fighters.”

Three decades later, she is preparing for her highly-anticipated farewell fight in front of an expected crowd of around 80,000 at Croke Park.

And the transformation between those two moments is, in many ways, the story of Katie Taylor.

The girl from Bray

Taylor was born in Bray, Co Wicklow, in 1986 and grew up in a sporting family.

Her father, Peter Taylor, played a hugely influential role in her boxing career, becoming her trainer and helping nurture a talent that would eventually take her to the very top of the sport.

But boxing wasn't the only sport at which Taylor excelled. She was also an accomplished footballer and represented the Republic of Ireland at senior level. It was in boxing, however, that she began breaking barriers long before she became a household name.

At a time when female boxing had little of the visibility or opportunities it has today, Taylor kept winning.

The amateur who changed everything

Taylor became one of the dominant forces in amateur boxing, collecting European and World Championship titles and helping push women's boxing towards Olympic recognition.

Her defining amateur moment came at London 2012. When women's boxing finally made its Olympic debut, Taylor became Ireland's first female Olympic boxing champion, winning gold in the lightweight division.

The images of Taylor standing on the podium with an Irish flag around her shoulders became among the most iconic sporting images of the decade.

But the significance went beyond one medal. For countless young Irish girls, Taylor had just demonstrated that boxing could be for them too.

“I’m imagining all the thousands of stories from the little girls who are at a boxing event for the first time on Saturday evening,” Taylor told The Irish Times.

“In my mind’s eye, I’m imagining that one of those girls might fall in love with this beautiful sport and might even surpass my achievements.”

From Olympic champion to professional pioneer

Taylor turned professional after the 2016 Rio Olympics, and by then, the landscape was beginning to change, but women's professional boxing was still nowhere near the global phenomenon it is today.

Taylor quickly became the sport's biggest star, becoming the undisputed lightweight champion in 2019 and later achieved the extraordinary feat of becoming undisputed champion in a second weight division.

Her professional career also produced some of the biggest nights women's boxing had ever seen, with her rivalry with Amanda Serrano becoming particularly significant.

Their first meeting at Madison Square Garden in 2022 made history as the first time two women headlined a boxing event at the iconic New York venue, with the fight becoming a landmark moment for women's boxing.

Their rivalry would eventually stretch to three fights, helping bring women's boxing to audiences around the world.

But then came the loss. Taylor's career has not been without setbacks and in 2023, she suffered the first professional defeat of her career against Chantelle Cameron in Dublin.

For a boxer who had spent so long seemingly incapable of being beaten, it was a remarkable moment.

But Taylor returned to beat Cameron in their rematch later that year, reclaiming her undisputed status at super-lightweight.

It was another reminder of one of the qualities that has defined her career: the willingness to keep going when things don't go according to plan.

Taylors personal life was also suffering setbacks during this time. For most of her life, her Father was a constant figure by her side, coaching her from her earliest days in boxing and guiding her through an amateur career that ultimately brought her Olympic gold in London.

Their relationship was about far more than just boxing, and when they parted ways as boxer and coach ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, it was an enormously difficult period for Katie.

She later spoke openly about the pain of stepping away from her father, describing how she went from seeing him everyday to not seeing him at all. She knew the decision could cost her in the ring, but felt it was something she had to do

The split came during a particularly turbulent period in her life and was followed by the disappointment of Rio, where Taylor lost in the quarter-finals. Yet, in another twist in a career full of them, the end of their professional partnership was not the end of their relationship as father and daughter.

In recent years, the pair have rebuilt their relationship. Taylor said in 2025 that they were "closer than ever", making clear that while she had stepped away from her father as a coach, he had never stopped being her dad.

The dream that remained

For all Taylor had achieved, there was still one thing missing. Croke Park.

For years, Taylor had talked about the dream of fighting in Ireland's biggest stadium. She had fought in some of the world's most famous venues, travelled across the globe and headlined huge events.

But she had never had the chance to make her professional farewell on home soil in front of a stadium full of Irish supporters, and at one point, it looked as though the dream might never happen.

Taylor has since admitted that she would have been prepared to walk away from boxing without it. Then, in June, the announcement finally came. Katie Taylor would fight at Croke Park.

“I think it’s actually hard to prepare yourself for a moment like this,” she told The Irish Times, “I’ve obviously never experienced anything like it, walking down in front of 80,000 people, hearing the Óle, Óle, Óles one last time, seeing the tricolours around the place.

“I’m not sure how I’m going to feel. But I’m praying that God will give me what it takes to actually control my emotions on the night.”

A different kind of legacy

Taylor's final fight against undefeated French boxer Flora Pili is undoubtedly about adding another chapter to an extraordinary record, as victory would give her the opportunity to become a three-time undisputed champion.

But Taylor herself has increasingly spoken about something beyond the belts. Her legacy.

And perhaps the most revealing thing she has said is that she doesn't simply want to be remembered as the woman who won the most titles, she wants to be remembered as someone who opened the door.

The little girl who once had to disguise herself as a boy to get a fight can now look around Irish boxing gyms and see them filled with female fighters. That, she says, is one of the greatest parts of her legacy.

There is something particularly fitting about Taylor's final fight taking place in Croke Park. A nine-year-old girl watching from the stands on Saturday night will see something that would have seemed extraordinary when Taylor was that age.

She will see a woman at the centre of one of the biggest sporting occasions Ireland has hosted, thousands of people paying to watch women's boxing, a sport in which female fighters are no longer an oddity and perhaps, years from now, she will remember the night she decided she wanted to become a boxer.

The greatest evidence of Katie Taylor’s success may not be found in her trophy cabinet at all, it may be found in the girls who no longer have to ask whether they belong in the boxing gym, because Taylor already answered that question.

Whatever happens when the bell rings at Croke Park on Saturday night, Taylor will leave the ring having done something that goes far beyond winning championships, she changed the sport she entered.

And perhaps, most importantly, she changed who felt they had a place in it.

Katie Taylor will face Flora Pili at Croke Park on Saturday, September 5, with coverage on RTÉ 2 and RTÉ Player beginning at 8pm.

The main card gets underway from 7pm, while Taylor and Pili are expected to make their ring walks at around 10pm, although timings may change depending on the earlier bouts. The fight will also be broadcast live on RTÉ 2FM