Home · Sports · Sep 6 archive
'One of the best'
Developing
In Short: Boxing great Katie Taylor ended her professional career with a unanimous victory over Flora Pili at Croke Park, marking a historic night for women's boxing.
Boxing great Katie Taylor has signed off on a glorious, title-laden career that blazed the trail for women’s boxing in her native Ireland and around the world with a win over France’s Flora Pili in Dublin. The victory completed a remarkable journey for Taylor, who began boxing at a time when girls were barred from amateur competition in Ireland and sometimes entered bouts simply as “K Taylor.”
Taylor finishes her professional career with 26 victories and one defeat, having won world titles at lightweight and super-lightweight. Her farewell also brought top-level boxing back to Croke Park for the first time since Muhammad Ali defeated Al “Blue” Lewis in 1972. Former world champion Carl Frampton said Taylor's relationship with the Irish public was unlike anything else in boxing.
Former cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew described the occasion as one of the most remarkable exits the sport had seen. 'Katie Taylor is different, she's special and there will never be another one like her,' he said. On Saturday night, Katie Taylor finally walked away from the sport she changed after a night of magic moments in front of 80,000 fanatics at Croke Park in Dublin.
At the midnight hour, under a clear sky, and with the echo of Westlife still in the air, Taylor was loaded up with all four world title belts; it was win No 26, world-title fight No 21, but against a backdrop of tears and emotion, none of the numbers mattered. It was a retirement party like no other in the history of boxing, in a city that knows how to throw a party.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- She went on to win Olympic lightweight gold at London 2012, when women’s boxing made its games debut, before turning professional four years later.
- "It's been a privilege watching your journey from the beginning." Taylor signs off in style with unanimous win over Pili Taylor's farewell unfolded in front of more than 80,000 fans in Dublin, with Westlife performing before the main event and Croke Park providing a fitting backdrop to her final night.
- Her 30 years in boxing gyms and rings, at tournaments, on podiums, making history and creating memories all came to an end with a final victory against Flora Pili.
- Taylor is 40 now, a wise veteran, and her story is the story of women’s boxing, the story of how a little girl – posing as a little boy to get a fight – changed the boxing landscape forever.
- She looked relaxed, which seems an impossibility, but Taylor is always the calmest soul at the centre of any boxing storm.
- Suranne Jones returns: A new case with even higher stakes Meet Jim Swearingen, the creator of the Star Wars toys Man Utd cannot ignore more dropped points despite positives Far too late for title fight priority - Hamilton New contenders emerge on WSL return - but Man City start strong Taylor's place among greats set in stone after extraordinary swansong Tears, blood and triumph - Taylor's iconic career in pictures Antonelli 'disrupting rules of fandom' in Ferrari's Italy No Brits left in US Open singles - but are there reasons to be positive?
Sources
- BBC link