Boxing is a sport where great fighters often don't get to walk away at the top and on their own terms. That won't be the case for Katie Taylor on Saturday when she defends her unified junior welterweight titles against Flora Pili in a packed Croke Park in Dublin. A fight inside Corke Park has long been a dream for Taylor (25-1, 6 KO), who has established herself as a beloved national figure and one of the best female boxers in history.
She finally gets that fight and gets it on the night she will retire from the sport. More than 80,000 will be in attendance when Taylor meets Pili. The bout will be just the third pro bout of Taylor's career to take place in Ireland, the previous two coming against Chantelle Cameron in 2023.
Taylor turned pro in 2016 after a storied amateur career that saw her win gold multiple times at the European and world championship levels and Olympic gold in London in 2012. Taylor won the WBA lightweight championship in just her seventh pro fight, defeating Anahí Ester Sanchez. Two fights later, Taylor defeated Victoria Bustos to add the IBF title.
Three fights after that, she added the WBO belt by defeating Rose Volante. Just one fight later, Taylor won a fantastic bout with Delfine Persoon to complete her quest to undisputed status by winning the WBC belt. We have a fight 💪@KatieTaylor & Flora Pili both inside the 140lbs limit! #TaylorPili live on @daznboxing pic.twitter.com/2tLtbbEobg Accomplishments continued to pile up for Taylor, with a brief trip to junior welterweight capturing the WBO belt before more lightweight success, including her historic win over Amanda Serrano in April 2022 inside New York's Madison Square Garden.
After splitting her two fights with Cameron, fighting for undisputed junior welterweight gold in both, Taylor picked up two more wins over Serrano to set up her massive retirement bout against Pili. Fighting out of France, Pili (12-0, 2 KO) has never faced a fighter anywhere near Taylor's level, nor does Pili have a deep, world-class amateur background to match Taylor's. Three of Pili's 12 wins have come by either majority or split decision, including her most recent victory.
In that most recent fight, Pili edged out a majority decision over Jelena Janicijevic, who entered the fight with a 6-1-1 pro record. Despite some close calls in her career, Pili has yet to taste defeat and some would say that there's value in a fighter having never learned to lose. Taylor is the more accomplished fighter at all levels, but more importantly, she's simply better than Pili.
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