Katie Taylor: Boxing world hails Irish fighter ahead of Dublin swansong

This article was first published in June 2026. It was been republished on 5 September with fresh interviews and material

The boxing world is coming together to celebrate the the end of Katie Taylor’s glittering career.

Her long-awaited farewell fight against Flora Pili in Croke Park, Dublin, takes place on Saturday night, with 80,000 people set to cram into Ireland’s biggest stadium for the two-time undisputed light-welterweight champion’s swansong.

Taylor’s final fight has united fans, but there are those on this island who have a personal connection to the County Wicklow fighter and will be reflecting on her impact on the fight game, especially for women.

People like Alanna Nihell, who fought Taylor in a pioneering bout 25 years ago, and will be in the Croke Park crowd on Saturday to see Taylor box professionally in-person for the first time.

“I can’t wait – I’m absolutely buzzing.”

As a 15-year-old amateur, Taylor fought Nihell, then known as Alanna Audley, in the first women’s fight sanctioned by the Irish boxing authorities.

Nihell, from Sandy Row in south Belfast, said that looking back now, her fight with Taylor at Dublin’s National Stadium in October 2001 was an important milestone for women’s boxing.

“On that day, the 15-year-old and 16-year-old girls didn’t realise how much of an impact that night would have in the future,” she told BBC News NI.

“It was massive, it was the building block in the right direction for female boxers, especially in Ireland.

“It wasn’t allowed, there was no female boxing back then.”

Nihell said she was “really proud” to have been a part of Taylor’s journey and to have watched the growth of Irish and women’s boxing.

She said she had remained good friends with Taylor throughout the years – and she was “still the same humble genuine person”.