Irish sensation and pioneer of women’s boxing, Katie Taylor, has once again made history as she becomes the first boxer to win the RTE Sportsperson of the Year award on three occasions.
The story of Katie Taylor is well-known throughout the sport. She overcame adversity as a child and boxed disguised as a boy in the amateurs before going on to win Olympic Gold and become the undisputed lightweight champion.
She made history by becoming the first female boxer to win the award and the first boxer to win it more than once, a record which she has now broken herself.
Three other boxers have won the award – Hall of Famer Barry McGuigan in 1985, and Michael Carruth and Michael Conlan winning in 1992 and 2015 respectively.
However, Taylor’s place amongst the greats in the history of Irish sport, like her status as champion, is undisputed.
This year her superstardom reached new levels as she continued to break barriers for women’s boxing and claimed her greatest victory to date.
Taylor faced seven-weight world champion and undisputed featherweight queen, Amanda Serrano, at Maddison Square Garden.
In a pivotal moment in women’s sport, it is safe to say that the pair delivered as they battled in a dramatic fight of the year contender in front of a sell-out crowd with Taylor winning by split decision.
The pair grossed an incredible $1.45m in ticket sales and became the first women to headline at one of boxing’s most iconic arenas.
The 36-year-old defended her belts once more, against Karen Carabajal in October, and she looks to go one better in 2023. There are continuous talks of a rematch with Serrano, only this time it would be in Taylor’s native Ireland at Croke Park, a stadium which holds over 80,000 fans.
Ten years ago headlining a stadium of that size would seem ambitious. Now, as this side of the sport continues to grow, a fight of that magnitude is very much a reality and a great deal of the credit is owed to Katie Taylor.
