From Bray to Madison Square Garden: The unstoppable rise of Katie Taylor

A month ago Katie Taylor was already a living legend in this country. But now, after headlining a packed-out Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Bray woman has indisputably become one of history’s sporting greats.

As this paper’s Malachy Clerkin succinctly summed up, Taylor has changed everything. “You look at her and you think of all that has happened, of how every step was more unlikely than the one before, and of how she made them all seem inevitable. She did it. Lucky us, to be around while she did.”

Taylor herself has called her fight against Amanda Serrano the best night of her career. “I wasn’t sure if anything could reach my Olympic gold medal moment, but tonight was absolutely the best moment of my career,” she said after the fight. So how did 35-year-old Ms Taylor reach such sporting heights? And what’s next for this undisputed boxing champion?

Asked last week about a rematch with Serrano, Taylor said a match at Croke Park in Dublin would be phenomenal. But professional boxing has been “nonexistent” in Dublin since the Regency Hotel shooting, in 2016, Irish Times sports writer Johnny Watterson told In the News. There are lots of reasons why the Croke Park fight should happen, first and foremost because most Irish people have never seen Ms Taylor fight, Watterson said. “She will be 36 in July, she’s not going to go on forever, and there seems to be a bit of energy behind this Croke Park event now, but there are reasons why it would be difficult. Partly, the reasons boxing has faced since 2016 because of the Regency hotel, and also partly because who is going to pay for it?”

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On today’s In the News podcast, we take a look back at Katie Taylor’s unstoppable rise to boxing glory, tracking her steps from Bray right up to Madison Square Garden, and ask if the undisputed champion of the world can bring professional boxing back to Dublin.