Katie Taylor will look to become a three-time undisputed champion when she enters a boxing ring for the final time in a historic setting this September.
Taylor, Ireland’s greatest-ever boxer, is set to her retirement fight at her dream venue of Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland on Sept. 5. Taylor’s longtime promoters, Matchroom Boxing, will officially announce the event at the 82,000-capacity national stadium during a launch press conference scheduled for Friday.
Taylor, who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO super lightweight belts, will be looking to win back the WBC title she never lost in the ring and once again become an undisputed champion. Uncrowned’s No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer will face France’s Flora Pili for the vacant WBC championship after Sandy Ryan was made champion in recess due to her impending pregnancy, sources close to the situation told Uncrowned.
It will be the first boxing match at Croke Park since Muhammad Ali graced Irish shores in 1972, stopping Alvin Levis in a non-title bout.
The event at Ireland’s national stadium has been a long time coming. Multiple attempts have been made in recent years to stage a Taylor fight at the venue, however promoter Eddie Hearn has cited an inability to reach a fair deal with the Gaelic Athletic Association, which owns the venue, as the stumbling block until now.
Pili (12-0, 2 KOs) is the reigning IBO champion, and also Taylor’s mandatory challenger for her IBF crown. She recorded a career-best win this past December, defeating Serbia’s Jelena Janicijevic by majority decision.
Taylor (25-1, 6 KOs) was last in action when she beat Amanda Serrano in their historic trilogy, which hit Netflix screens last July. She has reigned supreme at lightweight and super lightweight, and will look to once again achieve boxing’s pinnacle when she steps through the ropes one last time in September.