Boxing

Katie Taylor

Taylor

The "Bray Bomber" is the current undisputed lightweight champion and just the eighth fighter in boxing history to hold all four major world titles simultaneously.

Katie Taylor is an Irish professional boxer who is the current undisputed lightweight champion.

The "Bray Bomber" holds the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, Ring Magazine titles and is the eighth fighter in history to hold all four major world titles simultaneously. Taylor also held the IBF junior welterweight world title in 2019.

Taylor is a highly decorated amateur who won gold at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

She also won five consecutive gold medals at the World Championships, six gold medals at the European Championships and five at the European Union Championships.

After the 2016 Games, Taylor turned professional and signed up for Matchroom Boxing. In 2020, Taylor was ranked as the female's number one Pound for Pound fighter by BoxRec.

She became the first undisputed female lightweight champion after beating Belgian boxer Delfine Persoon in June 2019, and she has defended that crown seven times.
Taylor lost her undefeated record by the narrowest of margins when stepping up for a light-welterweight title fight with Chantelle Cameron. The 10-round fight scored a 95-95 draw, and 96-94, 96-94 in favour of the undefeated Cameron.

Taylor's amateur career

Taylor first made her way into boxing back in 1998 at the age of 11. She was deeply entwisted in the sport, with her father training her and older brothers, Lee and Peter at St Fergal's Boxing Club.
Taylor progressed quickly under her father's tutelage, eventually making her amateur debut in her first sanctioned fight when she was just 15.
Between 2005 and 2006, Taylor continued to develop immensely, winning titles at both domestic and European level around the globe.
Her first opportunity at world glory came during the 2006 World Championships in New Delhi, India.
In her debut at world level, Taylor advanced all the way to the final before winning gold in impressive fashion against Erica Farias in the 60 kg weight class.
For the next few years, Taylor continued to pick up accolade after accolade, including her second world title crown in 2008 in Ningbo, China.
One year later, Taylor was offered a privileged chance to fight on a pro undercard as fellow Irish fighter Bernard Dunne fought Ricardo Cordoba for the WBA junior featherweight world title.
This opened people's eyes to Taylor's abilities, as now she had more support from fight fans.
In 2010, Taylor won her third consecutive world title, this time against China's Ceng Dong in the 60 kg final.
In the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics, she won another European title before a fourth World title just a few months shy of the Games getting underway.
By now, Taylor was recognised as being one of the leading Irish sports individuals of this era and was beloved by her country. As a result, she earned the right to be Ireland's flag bearer during the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics.
Taylor bested Russia's Sofya Ochigava in the final to become the first-ever Olympic lightweight champion.
Continuing from where she left off, Taylor won another world title in 2014 before winning the lightweight title at the inaugural European Games in 2015.
Taylor's last appearance was at the 2016 Games, where she was defeated in the quarter-final stage to Finland's Mira Potkonen. She is regarded as the greatest amateur fighter of all time.

Taylor works her way to the top

Taylor made her long-awaited debut as a professional at the end of 2016. She fought Polish boxer Karina Kopinska in a six-round contest at the SSE Arena Wembley, London.
This was a showcase for Taylor, as she won with ease, knocking out Kopinska in the third round. Taylor fought three more times between then and March 2017 which included a five-round stoppage of Monica Gentili.
Taylor also earned comfortable points victories over Vivian Obenauf and Milena Koleva.
By this point, Taylor had already catapulted herself to world level and soon became the mandatory challenger for the WBA world lightweight championship.
The 34-year-old dispatched Anahi Ester Sanchez in only her seventh pro fight to become world champion.
She successfully defended her belt against Jessica McCaskill before overcoming Victoria Bustos to unify the division by adding the IBF strap.
Taylor further asserted her dominance on the division with successful defences against Kimberly Connor, Cindy Serrano and Eva Wahlstrom.
Next up for Taylor was a fight against Brazil's Rose Valante. Her opponent was the titleholder of the WBO lightweight title. Volante had moments of success scattered through their 10-round fight, but Taylor outclassed the champion and ended proceedings in round nine.
Taylor's 14th fight was an undisputed clash against Belgium's Delfine Persoon in June 2019 at Madison Square Garden on the Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz undercard.
This was the first time Taylor was truly tested as a professional. Persoon came out firing on all cylinders early on and brought the fight to Taylor.
It was a close, controversial encounter that saw Taylor create history via majority decision.
Taylor moved up to junior welterweight for her next fight and picked up another world title against Christina Linardatou at Manchester Arena for the latter's WBO crown.
Taylor secured another victory on the scorecards, with all three judges favouring Taylor.
She defeated Persoon in an eagerly awaited rematch in week 4 of Matchroom Boxing's well-received Fight Camp via unanimous decision.

Miriam Gutierrez, Natasha Jonas, Jennifer Han and Firuza Sharipova were then all dispatched by unanimous decision over the next two years, as Taylor retained all her straps.

Madison Square Garden win vs Amanda Serrano

Katie Taylor revelled in the 'best night' of her career after showing immense resilience to narrowly outpoint Amanda Serrano in an enthralling battle at a packed Madison Square Garden in April 2022.

A fight branded as the biggest in the history of women's boxing justified the billing as the momentum swung both ways, with Taylor soaking up a brutal onslaught from her opponent in the middle rounds.
Two judges scored the fight in her favour 97-93 and 96-93, with a third plumping for Serrano 96-94, handing Taylor a split-decision win as she retained her status as undisputed lightweight champion.
"I had to dig deep in there, I had to produce a career-defining performance to actually win," Taylor said at a post-fight press conference. "We definitely got the best out of each other, that's for sure."

In October 2023, Taylor comfortably beat Argentina's Karen Elizabeth Carbajal at Wembley Arena to retain her undisputed lightweight titles for the seventh time with a unanimous points decision.

Defeat to Chantelle Cameron

Taylor fought in Ireland for the first time as a professional on Saturday, May 20, 2023 looking to become an undisputed two-weight world champion against Chantelle Cameron.

Like Taylor, Cameron from Northampton is unbeaten, and she was the only opponent that Taylor wanted after the rematch with Amanda Serrano fell through due to an injury to the Puerto Rican.
A slow start in the first ended with a Cameron onslaught and it spilled into the second before Taylor landed a clean straight right punch through the guard of Cameron and after a close third round, Taylor started to look the more tired of the pair once the bell signalled the end of the fourth.
Cameron's beat down with the body shots started to take its toll on Taylor, and the English fighter seemed undeterred from Taylor's shots.
An uppercut from Cameron put her in the driving seat of the eighth before Taylor came back with a rally of shots towards the end of the round as both fighters started to dig deep for victory.
A blockbuster 10th round commenced as the pair traded large hooks, Cameron connecting with yet another uppercut before a desperate Taylor responded with more combinations but after the bell rung, it was the Northampton born fighter who had her hand raised, with the judges scoring 95-95 draw, and 96-94, 96-94 in favour of Cameron.

Katie Taylor's next fight

Taylor told DAZN after her defeat to Cameron she has already set her sights on a rematch.
"Congratulations to Chantelle and thank you for this opportunity. I'm looking forward to the rematch," she said.

How to watch Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor in a press conference

After linking with Hearn and Matchroom in 2016, Taylor has enjoyed unprecedented success and is the pioneer of women's boxing.

Taylor has had two main trainers throughout her career as an amateur and a professional fighter.

Throughout most of her time on the amateur circuit, she was trained by her father, Pete Taylor.

They enjoyed huge success together, as Taylor claimed five world championships as well as a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. Shortly before the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the pair parted ways.

It was revealed in the documentary on Taylor's life titled 'Katie', that the split came as a result of his father's breakup of his marriage, which had an adverse effect on the duo's relationship.

Shortly after, Taylor turned to Ross Enamait as her head trainer. The American does not have a background in boxing coaching, but he is a fitness expert who Taylor came across online by watching his videos.

She moved out to Connecticut to train with him ahead of the Olympics, and the trainer/boxer combo has remained intact to this day having enjoyed enormous success in the pro ranks.

You can watch Taylor exclusively on Sky Sports in the UK and streaming service DAZN in the U.S, Canada, Spain, Italy and Germany.

Personal life

Taylor was born in Bray, County Wicklow and is the daughter of Irish mother Bridget and British father Peter Taylor.

Peter spent a lot of time in Leeds and Birmingham growing up but settled in Ireland after marrying Bridget. Taylor is the youngest of four siblings: Lee, Sarah and Peter.

Peter was a former Irish senior light heavyweight champion and introduced Katie into boxing alongside her two brothers.

While Taylor has enjoyed unparalleled amounts of success in the sport, she also had the chance to be a soccer player having represented Ireland. Taylor won 11 caps and scored twice.

Taylor played for numerous teams at club level and played in multiple cup finals, with most of her success coming with Peamount United. In 2010, she was part of the Peamount squad that won a domestic treble.

In 2004, she was named Under-19 Women's International Player of the Year at the FAI International Football Awards.

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