There will never be another one like her. Saturday night at Croke Park made that absolutely certain.

Katie Taylor retired from professional boxing on her own terms, in front of 83,000 of her own people, with a unanimous decision win over Flora Pili that barely required her to leave second gear. The judges scored it 100-90, 100-90, 98-91. It was not close. It was never going to be close.

A Fitting Stage, A Perfect Exit

Croke Park has hosted some of the great moments in Irish sporting history, but it had not seen boxing since Muhammad Ali fought Al "Blue" Lewis there on 19th July 1972. More than half a century later, Taylor brought it back, and she brought 83,000 people with her. The fact that she could sell out a stadium of that size for her farewell tells you everything about what she means to Ireland and to the sport.

Pili, to her credit, came with a plan. The Frenchwoman tried to work on the counter, looking for openings as Taylor pressed forward. She found almost none. Taylor was relentless from the opening bell: blistering hand speed, precise combinations, footwork that made her look half her 40 years. By the final round she was still hunting, filling the last seconds with a sustained assault before pulling Pili into an embrace at the bell.

She exits with a professional record of 26-1, her only defeat coming against Chantelle Cameron in May 2023. She won the rematch. [Cameron, meanwhile, has her own defining fights still ahead of her.](/uprise/boxing/cameron-says-talks-are-advanced-to-fight-shields)

What She Actually Did

Let us be clear about the scale of this. Taylor became Ireland's first female Olympic boxing champion at London 2012. She turned professional in 2016 after an amateur record of 176-12-1. She became WBA lightweight world champion in just her seventh professional contest. In June 2019 she became undisputed lightweight world champion at Madison Square Garden, beating Delfine Persoon by majority decision.

Then came the Amanda Serrano trilogy, beginning with the first ever women's boxing fight to headline at MSG. Taylor won all three. She lost to Cameron at super-lightweight, came back six months later and won the rematch to become a two-weight undisputed champion. On Saturday she added the vacant WBC super-lightweight belt, making her a three-time undisputed world champion.

She laid her gloves down in the centre of the ring at the final bell. Her team followed with six championship belts. She did a lap of honour. The crowd, which had barely stopped roaring all night, gave her everything they had left.

"I ended my career on top," she told DAZN afterwards. "Every one of you here helped me win. You were with me in London 2012, you got me through the heartbreak of Rio, you stayed with me when I turned pro."

Women's boxing is a different sport to the one Taylor entered. [The women's division is producing its own defining rivalries now](/uprise/boxing/biggest-fight-in-womens-boxing-dubois-baumgardner-is-a-coward), fights that draw real attention and real crowds. A lot of that is her doing.

The Verdict

The greatest female boxer in history. Probably the greatest sportsperson Ireland has ever produced. Retired as undisputed champion, in front of 83,000 people, in the place that matters most to her.

There is nothing left to add. She was as good as it gets.