Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion. She was the flag bearer for Ireland at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. Taylor won five consecutive gold medals at the Women’s World Championships, gold six times at the European Championships, and gold five times in the European Union Championships.

About Katie Taylor in brief

Summary Katie TaylorKatie Taylor is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion. She was the flag bearer for Ireland at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony before going on to win an Olympic gold medal in the lightweight division. Taylor turned professional in 2016 under Matchroom Boxing, and is known for her fast-paced, aggressive boxing style, which has been compared to that of a male boxer. As of November 2020, Taylor is ranked as the world’s best active female lightweight by BoxRec, and the best active woman, pound-for-pound, by The Ring and BoxRec. Taylor won five consecutive gold medals at the Women’s World Championships, gold six times at the European Championships, and gold five times in the European Union Championships. Her father was born near Leeds and grew up in Birmingham and he first visited Bray to work with his father in the amusement arcades on Bray seafront. Taylor has three older siblings – Lee, Sarah and Peter, the latter a professor of maths at Dublin City University. Her mother Bridget was one of the earliest female referees and judges in Ireland. Taylor is a member of the Assemblies of God Ireland Church, itself a denomination which ascribes to Pentecostalist doctrines. She also plays association football and camogie with her local GAA clubs, Bray Emmets and Fergal Ógs. As a schoolgirl, she fought the first officially sanctioned female boxing match in Ireland in the National Stadium and defeated Alanna Audley from Belfast.

Taylor’s first noteworthy success was at the 2005 European Amateur Championships, in Tønsberg, Norway. She won the gold medal, defeating Eva Wahlströmöm of Finland in the final of the 60 kg lightweight class. At the 2006 World Amateur Championships in Podolsk, Russia, Taylor advanced to the quarter-finals in the 60kg weight class. Here she lost against Kang Kum-Hui, who remains the only boxer to have defeated her at the World Championships. In 2007, she won her second successive gold medal by stopping reigning world champion Tatiana Chalaya of Russia. In 2008, she saw Taylor win her first successive European Championship title in Liverpool, defeating Erica Farias of Argentina in the60kg final. In August 2008, Taylor became Ireland’s first World Champion, contested in New Delhi, India, defeating Chalaya again in the semi-final and then the final in August August. She then contested her first European Championship in August 2008 in Liverpool and won her third successive title in August 2010 in Denmark. In 2011, she became the first Irish woman to win three successive gold medals in the women’s lightweight division at the WBA, WBC, IBF, and Ring magazine championships. In 2012, she also won the WBO junior-welterweight title in 2019. She became one of only eight boxers in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in boxing simultaneously.