Phoenix 24
Spanish champion Jennifer Miranda helped prepare the Irish legend for her final fight.
DUBLIN, IRELAND
Katie Taylor concluded one of women’s boxing’s most influential careers with a commanding unanimous-decision victory over France’s Flora Pili at Croke Park. Competing before approximately 83,000 spectators, the 40-year-old Irish champion won by scores of 100-90, 100-90 and 98-91 before placing her gloves in the center of the ring.
Taylor controlled the ten-round contest through her speed, movement and combinations, handing the previously undefeated Pili her first professional loss. The victory allowed Taylor to retire as the undisputed super-lightweight champion and complete her professional career with 26 wins and only one defeat.
Spanish featherweight champion Jennifer Miranda played a supporting role in Taylor’s preparation. The boxer from Cádiz spent ten days as one of her sparring partners during a training camp in Connecticut. Miranda’s participation reflected the international collaboration required for a farewell contest carrying both championship consequences and enormous emotional pressure.
Taylor won Olympic lightweight gold at London 2012 before turning professional in 2016. She subsequently captured undisputed championships in two weight divisions and contested a landmark trilogy with Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden. Her only professional defeat came against Chantelle Cameron in 2023, a result she reversed six months later.
The Croke Park event fulfilled Taylor’s long-standing ambition to end her career in Ireland. It also returned major boxing to the stadium for the first time since Muhammad Ali defeated Al “Blue” Lewis in 1972. Taylor’s ability to attract a crowd of this scale confirmed that her legacy extends beyond championship belts: she helped move women’s boxing from limited institutional recognition toward global commercial prominence.
Her retirement leaves the sport searching for its next defining figure, but the opportunities now available to female boxers demonstrate the structural change Taylor helped create. She leaves as a champion who not only won historic contests, but expanded the stage on which future generations can compete.
True champions leave victories behind and possibilities ahead.