Katie Taylor: ‘The most important thing is that I get my hand raised on Saturday night’This is her Taylor’s fight. The last time she will have her hands strapped. The last time she will walk from her dressing room primed for a fight. The last time she will put her body and her reputation on the line inside those ropes. Tue, 01 Sep, 2026 – 18:10Brendan O’Brien
Strip away the romance of the Katie Taylor story, excise the Hollywood-style screenplay that Tinseltown will surely transfer to celluloid sooner rather than later, and there is one critical last act to be written in a career that comes to a close in Croke Park this Saturday.
Christian Cherci, manager to Flora Pili, Taylor’s final opponent, put it at Tuesday’s press conference that this fight won’t act as any meaningful filter to the Irishwoman’s wider career.
He was right. Her legacy is long secured. But he was wrong too.
Eddie Hearn reminded everyone that there were six belts up for debate when the main event gets going at the weekend, and that Taylor currently only has four of them. “We gotta win this fight first, or else it’s all for nothing,” said Taylor’s trainer Ross Enamait.
This is not a man who minces the few words that escape his mouth and make it as far as a public audience.
This was a short, stab punch of an opinion, delivered without fuss or fanfare from a stage in Dublin set up to celebrate someone still in work mode.
Hearn, the man orchestrating much of the circus that inevitably surrounds events like this, had already hit on the same vein earlier in the day. How, he asked, does Taylor separate the majesty of the occasion with what matters most in the ring?
This is not a hypothetical question. Taylor had displayed real, raw emotion when meeting Chantelle Cameron in Dublin just three years ago. And she had to pause for a strategic drink or two when asked some of the big-picture questions here.
Read More
Watch: Matchroom boxing release moving promo ahead of Katie Taylor’s Croke Park fight
Katie Taylor v Flora Pili: Ringwalk time, TV details and everything you need to know
This is her last fight. The last time she will have her hands strapped. The last time she will walk from her dressing room primed for a fight. The last time she will put her body and her reputation on the line inside those ropes.
“I’m not trying to reflect too much on it because I do have a job to do and it is too dangerous a sport to have your mind in the ring and your heart out of it,” she said. “I have a job to do, and I’m very much focused on the job.
“But I have allowed myself to think about it a little bit over the last while, just thinking about the last three years in the ring, all the amazing sparring partners, having the chance to headline all these amazing arenas.
“Now I have a chance to end my career in my dream venue in Croke Park, this really is beyond my wildest dreams. The most important thing is that I get my hand raised. It’s business as usual for me, it’s not going to be a walk in the park.
“She is here to win as well, and I’m very aware of that as well. It’s going to be a tough fight for sure.”
Ireland’s 2012 Olympic gold medallist has never been one for all this chat. She joked about upending the stage after finishing her last pre-fight press conference here, but that wasn’t happening. She’s not been one for drama either.
Andy Lee chatted to her afterwards and said that she could at least put all this showbiz side of things behind her now. If only.
A sit-down with more media is still to come on Wednesday, and an open workout with it. The ceremonial weigh-in follows on Friday.
The focus will inevitably narrow as the week goes on but there probably isn’t any way of silencing all the noise. Not this time.
There is an enormity to it all that just can’t be denied. A vibe that must permeate every interaction she has from here through to Saturday night.
She herself reflected on the uniqueness of the journey and the magnitude of the moment.
How she was laughed at in boxing clubs for being a girl with the temerity to simply climb into a ring. And how girls are now part of the furniture in boxing gyms all over the island.
All this will frame that defining walk into the arena on Saturday night.
“It’s hard to prepare yourself for a moment like that. I’ve never experienced that, walking out in front of 80,000 people, experiencing that, hearing the ‘Ole Ole Oles’ around the place and all the tricolours around the place. I’m praying to God to keep all my emotions.
“It’s going to be a special night, an historic night. There’ll be enough time to reflect on this career after my hand is raised, but I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t reflect on it, and thinking of all those future stories about the young girls who are at a boxing event for the first time.
“One of those girls might fall in love with the sport and might end up surpassing my achievements. That’s what legacy is all about and they might do that because of one amazing September day in Croke Park. I can’t wait to hear those stories.”
x
185th Anniversary Offer
Six months of digital access for €18.50
Already a subscriber? Sign in
No obligation. Ts&Cs apply.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
NEWSLETTERS
NOTIFICATIONS
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
RTÉ to broadcast Katie Taylor’s farewell Croke Park fight
Live at the Marquee promoter Peter Aiken: ‘If the Americans were running GAAGo, it’d be 10 times the price’
Confirmed: Katie Taylor Croke Park fight set for September
More in this section
Watch: Matchroom boxing release moving promo ahead of Katie Taylor’s Croke Park fight
Novak Djokovic says he ‘despised’ every moment of five-set US Open loss
Charlie Smyth cut by the New Orleans Saints
#Katie Taylor