Katie Taylor is ready to bring her professional boxing career to an end this year, with the continued hope of a homecoming in Croke Park to sign off in the sport.
Taylor is currently the ‘Champion in Recess’ of the World Boxing Council as the undisputed super-lightweight world champion has taken time away from the sport.
The WBC strap is one of the belts currently held by the Bray boxer alongside the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring titles, all of which she retained following her victory in the trilogy fight against Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden, New York in July.
Chantelle Cameron was due to be the mandatory challenger for her WBC belt – an opponent that Taylor lost to by majority decision in May 2023 at the 3Arena before avenging what remains her only professional defeat six months later at the same Dublin venue.
A fight in Croke Park has not materialised, despite being a long-time goal of the Olympic gold medallist.
Taylor, who was speaking at Lidl’s launch of the Ladies Football League at GAA headquarters, has not given up fighting on Jones’s Road
She told RTÉ Sport: “I was thinking after my last fight, an amazing trilogy against Amanda Serrano, that I would love to end my career here in Ireland.
“This is my last year, probably, in the ring boxing. I’m going to be 40 this year.
“I would love to end my career here. And I would absolutely love to have an opportunity to fight here in Croke Park. That would be the icing on the cake for me. That would be an absolute dream come true.
“I’m not sure if it’s ever going to happen, but that is the dream that I have. I’m excited to see what this year has for me.
Katie Taylor was in Croke Park to help launch the 2026 Lidl Ladies National Football Leagues
“Whoever the opponent is, I want to end my career on a high here in the country that I love and the country that I’ve represented throughout my whole career. I love Ireland.
“I’m living in Connecticut obviously over the last few years and it makes me appreciate Ireland even more. I love being at home. I love my country. I love the people that I’m surrounded by.
“I just love the Irish people and I would love to bring a big night back to Ireland again in the ring.”
Taylor does not know if any negotiations are taking place at the moment, as she continues her time away from the sport.
“I’m not sure if there’s any conversations happening right now. We obviously tried to make that happen a couple of years ago and it wasn’t possible but I’m still not giving up hope.
“That will be the icing on the cake for me. It will be a dream come true to end my career in our most iconic arena. Just look at the place, it’s beautiful.
“It’s insane and there’s so much pride associated with Croke Park as well. We’ll see what happens.”
“It’s very frustrating to think if I was a male, I’d be an absolute multi, multi, multi-millionaire now.”
Speaking at a panel discussion at the launch in Croke Park, Taylor spoke in broader terms about the status of women’s sport and expressed some frustration at the substatial pay gap that remains between men and women at the highest level of boxing.
“The inequalities are also still there within the pay gap as well. In my world, the best paid female fighters – probably myself and Amanda Serrano – are still far away off from the best male fighters.
“This is a complex issue because you need fights that capture the interest of fans. You need to have fighters that capture the imagination of fans. Particularly myself and Amanda have that in abundance.
“We fought at Madison Square Garden twice. We fought with millions of people watching live on Netflix and DAZN and we still got a fraction of the pay that males get.
“I think we are making great progress in that area, but it’s very, very slow.
“It’s very frustrating to think if I was a male, I’d be an absolute multi, multi, multi-millionaire now.”
Katie Taylor speaking at a panel discussion for the launch of the 2026 Lidl Ladies Football League
Taylor added that her annoyance at pay levels had led to tensions with promoters in the past.
“Those are conversations I’ve actually had with the promoters. I’ve said ‘that’s an insult’ [about pay packets].
“If you’re going to negotiate the fight, and people are going to watch it on Netflix and you’re going to sell out this iconic stadium, and get loads of sponsorship in… and then they hand you the contract and you’re looking at it going, ‘I know if I was a man, these numbers would be different.'”