Friday’s announcement came as no surprise to anyone, but it was still a thrill to learn that the long-held dream of Ireland’s Katie Taylor would be fulfilled to close out her boxing career at home in Dublin on September 5.
Taylor had long expressed her goal of concluding her career as Ireland’s greatest athlete by defending her ***** les at Croke Park, a historic venue seating 80,000 people and home to the Gaelic Athletic ***** ociation. It will be the first boxing event at Croke Park since Muhammad Ali fought Alvin Lewis of Detroit in 1972.
Taylor’s opponent is her newly minted mandatory challenger for the vacant WBC World Super Lightweight, Flora Pili of France (12-0, 2 KOs). Although many women threw their names into the hat as Taylor’s final opponent, including Stephanie Han, Holly Holm, and Caroline Dubois, this was never meant to be a trial by fire.
It is designed to provide Taylor with a credible opponent, sharp enough to help promote the fight and share the ring, while tipping the scales as much as possible to ensure Taylor earns herself the fairy-tale ending to a storybook career.
The 2012 London Olympics gold medalist and two-division champion Taylor of Bray, Ireland (25-1, 6 KOs) began a four-day promotional tour with Friday’s news conference, then moving on to her hometown of Bray, County Wicklow, and on to Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Belfast in Northern Ireland.
Taylor had long expressed her goal of concluding her career as Ireland’s greatest athlete by defending her ***** les at Croke Park, a historic venue seating 80,000 people and home to the Gaelic Athletic ***** ociation. It will be the first boxing event at Croke Park since Muhammad Ali fought Alvin Lewis of Detroit in 1972.
Taylor’s opponent is her newly minted mandatory challenger for the vacant WBC World Super Lightweight, Flora Pili of France (12-0, 2 KOs). Although many women threw their names into the hat as Taylor’s final opponent, including Stephanie Han, Holly Holm, and Caroline Dubois, this was never meant to be a trial by fire.
It is designed to provide Taylor with a credible opponent, sharp enough to help promote the fight and share the ring, while tipping the scales as much as possible to ensure Taylor earns herself the fairy-tale ending to a storybook career.
The 2012 London Olympics gold medalist and two-division champion Taylor of Bray, Ireland (25-1, 6 KOs) began a four-day promotional tour with Friday’s news conference, then moving on to her hometown of Bray, County Wicklow, and on to Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Belfast in Northern Ireland.
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