Why Katie Taylor is one of Irish boxing’s all-time greats

Sporting legacies are made over time. They are built on consistent success. For Katie Taylor, regardless of what happens next in her career, her legendary status as an Irish boxing great is already secure.

The boxer, from County Wicklow, is currently preparing for the biggest paycheque of her career when she takes on Amanda Serrano in the summer. She will earn a prize purse of almost $6 million. It’s a rematch of the bout dubbed the “greatest women’s fight of all time” which Taylor won by split decision.

The pioneering Irish sensation established the previous cash prize record when she took on Serrano in 2022. Now they will surpass that figure when they face each other again in June.

Their initial fight, the first time in history that an all-female boxing match headlined at New York’s Madison Square Garden, was witnessed by a crowd of 20,000 enthusiastic fans inside the arena and an unprecedented 1.5 million viewers on TV.

The rematch will take place at the $1.2 billion Arlington Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys’ home field which features a seating capacity of 80,000. Moreover, Netflix has scored rights to the event and will stream it live across the globe. It promises to be the biggest female boxing bout in history.

Katie Taylor’s road to boxing legend

Taylor’s first match with Serrano made both women pioneering powerhouses of female sport. For the Irishwoman, however, her long list of accomplishments, both as an amateur and a professional, have secured her a place amongst the country’s sporting legends, male or female.

Since winning the WBA lightweight title in 2017, followed by the IBF title the subsequent year, Taylor has gone from strength to strength. Her unification bout against Delfine Persoon at Madison Square Garden made her only the eighth boxer in history, regardless of gender, to simultaneously hold all four major world titles – IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO. By the end of 2023, having beaten Chantelle Cameron in Dublin, she had the IBO title too.

Influencing a new generation

Source: Unsplash

Yet, perhaps more significantly, it’s Taylor’s influence on others that makes her one of the all-time greats. She has been described as an “idol” by a new generation of Irish female boxers while gyms in the country, like Paschal Collins’ Celtic Warriors in Dublin, are getting more new members than ever before because of Taylor’s exploits.

Similarly, not only is there a growing appetite for men to bet on women’s sports because of the increase in visibility and the emergence of stars like Taylor in boxing, but a recent study showed that women’s boxing was now in the top 10 sports that female gamblers bet on. It’s a growing market that is complemented by many popular boxing-themed slot games that are available to play with free spins and bonus offers at Ireland’s top online casinos.

Following the Taylor-Serrano fight, the vice president of marketing for broadcaster DAZN highlighted newfound demand for women’s boxing, noting the “massive trajectory” the sport is on.

The Irish fighter has already secured her status as an Irish boxing legend. From her unprecedented achievements in the ring to her influence on aspiring athletes, she’s not just rewriting history but inspiring a new era in women’s boxing.