The news that her last professional fight will be shown free-to-air on the same station feels like the closing of a circle. On September 5, the Bray native will step into a ring built inside Croke Park to defend her WBO, WBA, IBF, and Ring Magazine titles, and to fight for the vacant WBC Super Lightweight belt, against France's undefeated Flora Pili.
RTÉ Head of Sport Declan McBennett said the broadcaster said "RTÉ was there at the start of Katie's journey as an amateur, and we are delighted to be there for the final chapter."
He added, "Katie is, and always will be, one of Ireland's greatest ever sporting icons, and it is fitting that she ends her illustrious career in Croke Park in front of a full stadium and a national audience."
An estimated 80,000 fans are expected to fill the stands at GAA headquarters, a stadium that has hosted a professional boxing match only once before. That was in July 1972, when Muhammad Ali fought Detroit heavyweight Al "Blue" Lewis in front of a crowd of 17,000, a fraction of the size expected for Taylor's send-off.
Taylor, the London 2012 Olympic gold medalist and two-weight world champion, carries a professional record of 25-1 with 6 knockouts in the bout. A win would make her a three-time undisputed world champion, closing out a career that has taken her from Bray Boxing Club to Madison Square Garden and back home again for one last night in front of her own people.
Katie Taylor.
Taylor has been open about what the sport and this particular fight mean to her. In footage posted to her Instagram account, she said she would have taken the fight in Croke Park for nothing.
"Look at the life that (boxing) has given me and look at the memories that it's given me. I just wanted to elevate the sport and pursue my passion, and this is what I love to do. This is what I was born for, and I've had a chance to headline these iconic arenas and be involved in these iconic fights. Just to open the door for the next generation of female fighters, that to me is everything. I'm just forever grateful."
Pili, unbeaten as a professional, arrives in Dublin as a serious threat to Taylor's plans for a fairy-tale finish. But for now, the story circling Croke Park is less about the opponent and more about the moment itself, a homecoming twenty years in the making, set to play out in front of the largest crowd ever assembled for a boxing match on Irish soil.
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