Katie Taylor brought her remarkable boxing career to a close in front of 80,000 jubilant fans at Croke Park, bowing out as a three-time undisputed world champion.<\/p>\n
The Bray native produced a dominant performance against unbeaten Flora Pili, securing a points victory to claim the vacant WBC light-welterweight title and complete an extraordinary final chapter.<\/p>\n
Taylor finishes her career with 26 victories from 27 professional contests, having established herself as one of Ireland’s greatest sporting figures.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old’s farewell in Dublin was a night of celebration, spectacle and music, with Croke Park providing a fitting stage for the final appearance of a fighter who has transformed women’s boxing.<\/p>\n
And among the many supporters celebrating Taylor’s achievements were Leeds United fans, with the former Republic of Ireland footballer having long spoken about her affection for the Whites.<\/p>\n
Appearing on Soccer AM in 2019, Taylor revealed the origins of her Leeds connection.<\/p>\n
“My team is actually Leeds United. <\/p>\n
“My dad is from Leeds and my older two brothers grew up supporting Leeds as well. Every Christmas we would get Leeds jerseys for Christmas and football boots. I was a huge football fan growing up.”<\/p>\n
Taylor has previously described her visits to Elland Road as “some of my best memories as a kid”, while her love of the club has remained throughout her hugely successful boxing career.<\/p>\n
That connection was strengthened in 2021 when Taylor brought her world championship belts to Leeds, successfully defending her titles against Jennifer Han at Headingley Stadium.<\/p>\n
Now, five years on from her night in Leeds, Taylor has called time on a career which saw her become a three-time undisputed world champion and one of the most influential figures in the history of women’s sport.<\/p>\n
Her final victory over Pili ensured she departed the sport on her own terms, adding another world title to a glittering collection before receiving the farewell she deserved in front of 80,000 fans at Croke Park.<\/p>\n
From the football pitches of Ireland to the biggest stages in boxing, Taylor’s journey has been extraordinary.<\/p>\n
And for Leeds United supporters, she will always be remembered as one of their own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katie Taylor brought her remarkable boxing career to a close in front of 80,000 jubilant fans at Croke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1189431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":["post-1189430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-leeds","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-leeds","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117223521405316379","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1189431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}