BOXING
Boxing

Katie Taylor announces imminent retirement: Final fight date, location and opponent

Arguably the best women's boxing fighter of all-time is hanging up the gloves in 2026.

Katie Taylor is set to call it a career as she nears turning 40 years...
Katie Taylor is set to call it a career as she nears turning 40 years old.LAPRESSE

The boxing world is set to bid farewell to a true legend this summer. Katie Taylor, considered by many to be the greatest female boxer of all-time, announced on Wednesday that she will retire from the sport after one final fight this summer.

Aside from her incredible professional and international career, Taylor sparked a revolution for women's boxing in the 2020s. Her 2022 fight against Amanda Serrano was the first women's boxing match to headline Madison Squre Garden in New York.

Katie Taylor's final boxing fight will take place in Ireland, with Croke Park the ideal location

Taylor is set to finish up her illustrious career where it all began for her. She announced that the plan is to have her final boxing bout in Ireland.

Taylor hadn't fought in Ireland all the way up until she faced Chantelle Cameron for two back-to-back bouts in 2023. Cameron actually handed Taylor her first-ever loss there, at 3Arena in Dublin, but Taylor exacted revenge in the rematch. Those two fights against Cameron have been Taylor's only ones in her native country.

Now, she will get the chance to finish her career in the place she was born. It's a fairytale ending, or at least that's the plan; with that in mind, it's likely Taylor decides to opt for a somewhat lesser opponent. She has fought the best of the best in recent years, and has nothing left to prove. After all, Taylor herself claims this will be "kind of like my retirement fight".

As for location, the dream is still to fight at Croke Park. The legendary Gaelic games stadium was floated as a possibility by Taylor's promoter, Eddie Hearn, in the past. It never came to fruition, but Taylor is holding out hope it will happen this time around. If not, Taylor mentions 3Arena as a potential option again, as well as Aviva Stadium.

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