Katie Taylor bows out: Irish boxing icon ends career at Croke Park

Irish boxer Katie Taylor has ended her professional career at the age of 40 following her final bout at Dublin's Croke Park, fought in front of more than 80,000 fans. Across her career she compiled a record of 27 fights with 26 wins.

Taylor began her amateur journey in 2001, taking part at just 15 years old in one of the first sanctioned female boxing matches in Ireland, a moment credited with helping legalise women's boxing in the country. She went on to win five amateur world championships and claimed Olympic gold at the 2012 London Games, becoming Ireland's only gold medallist that year.

In 2016 she turned professional, becoming the first female boxer signed by promoter Eddie Hearn, and needed just 11 months to capture her first world title in the lightweight division.

Among the defining moments of her career was a hard-fought win over Delfine Persoon at Madison Square Garden in 2019, where she narrowly preserved her unbeaten record. In 2022, she returned to the same venue to face Amanda Serrano in a historic bout — the first time two women headlined a fight card there — winning by split decision.

In 2024, fighting in Dublin for the first time in nine years, Taylor suffered her first professional defeat, losing her undefeated record to England's Chantelle Cameron. Six months later she avenged the loss in a rematch, becoming a two-weight undisputed champion. Later that year she faced Serrano again, this time in Texas in front of 60,000 fans, prevailing once more before closing out the trilogy with a third win in New York.

Taylor's career concluded at Croke Park, where she defeated Flora Pili by unanimous decision, adding another WBC belt to her collection before laying down her gloves in the centre of the ring to bring her illustrious career to a close.