Katie Taylor brought Carrickmines to a standstill on Saturday morning when appearing for a meet and greet with fans and media at Sports Direct’s store in South Dublin.
She was there as part of her long term partnership with the iconic Everlast brand and was interviewed in front of an invited audience by legendary boxing writer Steve Bunce.
Taylor was as relaxed as we have seen her in a long while, surrounded by friends and family and comfortable in her skin having secured a second win over Amanda Serrano in front of the largest ever TV audience for a boxing card on Netflix from the home of the Dallas Cowboys at the end of last year.
On being home…
Yeah, it’s great to be back. It’s always so special being home. I spend most of my time in Connecticut now, so when I am home, it’s always so special just to spend a bit of time with family, but also to be here today and to meet some of the fans and some young stars I’m sure are going to be here as well and just have an impact on somebody’s young life.
The next generation is always very, very special for me. When I started boxing I was so passionate about it. This is the sport I fell in love with and thankfully I’m still in love with the sport now today.
On her favourite opponent…
That would have to be Amanda Serrano. We have made history together as the first women to headline at Madison Square Garden and creating the biggest viewership in the history of the sport.
She is a great champion and while the fights have been really hard, I always like that, to pitch myself against the very best.
I think we will always be woven together over these fights.
On Croke Park…
It’s definitely still a dream to fight at Croke Park.
I think to have a chance to fight here in Ireland is always absolutely incredible, but to have a chance to fight in our most iconic arena at Croke Park would be the icing on the cake, I think, for me.
That would be I think the pinnacle of my career, to have a chance to actually fight in Croke Park.
So I’m still hanging on to that hope, but we’ll see what happens.
On her legacy as a fighter and what’s next…
As I go on, I realize that after I win these competitions and certain fights, I’m always thinking to the next fight. I don’t really take time to, I don’t think I took the time to enjoy the wins as much as I should have. I think that’s, that’s natural as well.
When you’re in the middle of your career, you’re always thinking about the next fight and yeah, I think there’s still a few more big fights out there for me.
Like we were talking about earlier, that fight in Croke Park there’s still some huge fights out there for me. There’s still more ground to make up, I think, in my pro career.
So this year is going to be a very, very big year for me, I feel.
On relaxing away from training…
I kind of live a boring life really. I train six days a week and then on the seventh I go to church, I might do a bit of reading, chill and watch a bit of netflix.
A fe years ago i bought a speedboat, I don’t know why! And then I realised, what am I doing with this and that’s long gone now.
On Motivation…
Motivation isn’t always there but if you can be disciplined that is the most important thing. I’ve always had that in my life.
You might not always want to go to the gym, to go for that run or whatever but if you have the discipline to say this is what i do, this is what i need to do today then that gets you through.
She spent hours chatting with fans from boxing clubs, many of them as young as when she started out on her journey. The Sports direct shelves were stripped of boxing gloves, many of them now bearing the precious signature of one of the greatest Irish athletes we have ever seen.
SPORT FOR BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
One key moment was when Steve Bunce spoke of travelling the world to visit all the great gyms, the iconic homes of boxing from New York to Mexico and London to the new horizons of Saudi Arabia. In every one, without exception, there was an image of Katie Taylor on the wall. We sometimes take our stars for granted but around the world she is undoubtedly one of the greats.
WHAT’S UP NEXT?
The will be an ongoing question throughout the first half of 2025
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