Why Katie Taylor’s final fight at Croke Park is not about what happens in the ring

It took minutes to convince everybody that Katie Taylor truly did deserve a final fight in front of 80,000 people at Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday night.

The tickets went on sale and then the tickets for boxing’s greatest final fight sold out; it was all over in 30 minutes of trading, and Taylor’s position as one of the most popular fighters in history was secure.

The journey to the very end of the boxing line started so long ago when Taylor, with her hair in braids tucked inside a headguard, posed as a boy to have her first fight. A legend was born on a tiny amateur show, and the girl from Bray was on her way.

The battle for equality was on; Taylor moved through the ranks, became the star of the Irish boxing team, won medals in tournaments all over the world and then won the Olympic title in London in 2012.

At Dublin airport there are three giant pictures of iconic people arriving in the Irish capital; there is the pope, there is a smiling President John F Kennedy, and the final picture is a joyous shot of Taylor with her gold medal in her hand, smiling from the cockpit of a plane.

The hero was back from London that afternoon in the summer of 2012, and this Saturday that long road to glory will finish at the home of Irish sport. The sacred ground will belong to the small girl from Bray – it has been a dream all her boxing life.

Flora Pili, an unbeaten Frenchwoman, was picked for the final dance in the ring. The fight is for three versions of the super-lightweight title, but at this point in her remarkable career, all glittering baubles are an unnecessary distraction. Taylor has won so many and in so many fights; her ring genius is not measured by the amount of costume belts that can be strapped across her body.

Taylor is now 40 and this last fight will be her 21st consecutive world-title fight, a run that started in 2017; there was the one loss against Chantelle Cameron in Dublin 2023 and then the triumphant rematch victory a few months later.

She has dominated and led the revolution from the ground up; she was once the little girl pretending to be a boy to get a fight, and on Saturday she will be the multi-millionaire national hero walking to the ring on a bed of love and adoration to thank the faithful. It’s a boxing fairytale, make no mistake.

For Saturday’s fight, Taylor had the pick of any woman operating within a 10lb range of the 140lb limit, and there were dozens waiting for the call. In the end, it was Pili, fresh, unbeaten, and a safe choice for a fight and night when the opponent’s credentials are irrelevant. Pili can make it difficult if Taylor is overwhelmed by emotion and the vastness of the event.

However, this is not about Taylor having one final test, one final great victory – it is all about the walk to the ring and saying goodbye, and 80,000 people howling and smiling and crying. There has never been a final fight in boxing history quite like this. A nation will stop for the tiny girl from Bray one last time.