Taylor v Pili: Taylor to end career in Dublin with undisputed light-welterweight titles on the line
Katie Taylor will bring her professional career to a close after her 27th and final bout on Saturday when she faces Flora Pili at Croke Park in Dublin for the WBA, WBO, IBF titles and the vacant WBC light-welterweight crown. The 40-year-old Irish fighter will attempt to become a three-time undisputed world champion in front of an expected crowd of 80,000.
After almost a decade as a professional boxer, Taylor has recorded 25 professional wins, six of which have come by stoppage, and has avenged her only defeat against Chantelle Cameron. She currently holds the WBO, WBA and IBF light-welterweight titles. Pili arrives unbeaten on a 12-0 record and is the mandatory challenger for the vacant WBC belt.
Taylor's rise followed a decorated amateur career that included Olympic gold at London 2012 before she turned professional in 2016. She notched three stoppage wins in her first five professional bouts and captured her first world title in her seventh fight, taking the vacant WBA lightweight belt via unanimous decision over Anahi Ester Sanchez in Cardiff. Her professional trajectory has involved sustained activity at world-title level.
Across 20 successive world title fights Taylor has won 19 of those bouts; the defeat by Chantelle Cameron remains the only loss on her 26-fight record. The undercard for Saturday features Paddy Donovan v Tyrone McKenna (welterweight), Taylor Bevan v Emmet Brennan (super-middleweight), Joe McGrail v Matthew Boreland (super-bantamweight), Dave Allen v Thomas Cartey (heavyweight) and Molly McCann v Sylwia Doligala (bantamweight).
Live text coverage of the event will begin at 20:00 BST on the BBC Sport website and app, with Taylor and Pili expected to make their ringwalks at about 22:10 (all timings are estimated and subject to change). Fight-week coverage on BBC Sport includes a news conference on Tuesday from 16:00, open workouts on Wednesday from 18:00, an undercard news conference on Thursday from 13:00 and a Friday weigh-in from 18:00 (all times BST).
Pili, 29 and 11 years younger than Taylor, has won two of her 12 professional bouts by knockout and has fought outside France only twice, recording victories in Italy and Luxembourg. The source describes Pili as the mandatory challenger who has earned her opportunity in Dublin.
Taylor has long sought to headline at Croke Park and the event is being promoted as a celebration of her career; reports cited in the source say many attendees may be experiencing a live boxing event for the first time. Her trilogy with Amanda Serrano began at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in 2022 and the rematches were broadcast globally on Netflix, milestones noted in coverage of her career.
Taylor is already a two-weight undisputed world champion and aims to secure undisputed status for a third time in her farewell bout on Saturday.
