Katie Taylor has achieved practically everything in the sport of boxing — but one thing still eludes Ireland’s finest-ever boxer.
For much of her professional career, Taylor has spoken of her ambition to one day headline a card at the home of Irish sport: Croke Park.
Taylor, who defended her light welterweight world titles in a rematch with Amanda Serrano in November, has been linked to bouts at the 80,000+ capacity outdoor stadium on several occasions, be it against Serrano or against Chantelle Cameron — the English boxer who is the only fighter to have defeated Taylor in professional competition before the Bray woman avenged the loss in their second fight.
But despite initial attempts made by her promoter, Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, to make Croke Park a reality so far it has remained outside of Taylor’s grasp.
“It’s definitely still a dream to fight at Croke Park,” Taylor said, per the Irish Independent.
“I think to have a chance to fight here in Ireland is always absolutely incredible, but to have a chance to fight in our most iconic arena at Croke Park would be the icing on the cake, I think.
“That would be the pinnacle of my career to have a chance to actually fight in Croke Park… I’m still hanging on to that hope, but we’ll see what happens.”
Taylor, who turns 39 this summer, realises that she is in the final stages of her record-breaking career but admits that she is no closer to stepping away from the sport in which she made her name, at least as long as viable challenges remain.
“As I go on, I realise that after I win these competitions and certain fights, I’m always thinking to the next fight,” Taylor said.
“I don’t really take time to, I don’t think I took the time to enjoy the wins as much as I should have but I think that’s natural as well, when you’re in the middle of your career you’re always thinking about the next fight.
“I think there’s still a few more big fights out there for me, we were talking earlier about that fight in Croke Park and there’s still some huge fights out there for me. There’s still more ground to make up in my pro career, so this year is going to be a very, very big year for me.”
