Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor, born on July 2, 1986, in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland, had a unique introduction to boxing. Before Taylor officially laced up her gloves, the Taylor family name was synonymous with excellence and trailblazing in the world of professional boxing. Even Katie Taylor's mother was a pioneer in her own right in women's sports, being the first female boxing judge in Ireland. Despite Taylor's rich family history in boxing, she had to start boxing without permission due to living in an era where women were not allowed to box in the Olympics, and boxing was generally seen as a men's game in Ireland. However, her family would eventually support Katie in becoming the phenomenon she is today.

Taylor displayed an innate passion for sports, particularly boxing. Interestingly Oddly enough, she represented Ireland internationally on her age-level teams between 2006 and 2009 before becoming a boxing superstar. Despite her late start in boxing, much like many of the greats, her dedication, work ethic, and boxing pedigree quickly set her apart. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Taylor brought home an Olympic gold medal at the London Olympics, marking the first sanctioned Olympic women's boxing event in human history. After losing as a returning Olympic Champion to Finland’s Mira Potkonen in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games, Taylor turned professional. Within a year of turning professional, Katie became the WBA female lightweight champion. Within three years of going professional, she became the undisputed world champion of the female lightweight division.

Taylor not only helped grow women's boxing, akin to fellow pound-for-pound boxer Claressa Shields, but also became an Irish superstar of a similar magnitude to the notorious Conor McGregor. This allowed women to believe that they could sell out the largest combat sports venues in the world and become cultural icons.

Under Taylor's tutelage, guided by her father Pete Taylor, a former professional boxer with a diverse sports background, Katie developed impeccable footwork that helped her set the pace of her boxing matches and land effective punches from various angles. Her footwork aligns with her head movement, allowing her lower half to work in unison to evade even the slickest combinations in women's boxing. She controls the pace of the fight while constantly positioning herself for effective angles of attack. Taylor can effortlessly change levels, forcing her opponents to adjust, all while maintaining her distance masterfully with lightning-fast jabs both forward and backward. This enables Taylor to apply pressure on her opponents or relieve it from herself, arguably the key reason why she narrowly beat Amanda Serrano in April 2022. What sets Taylor apart even in the Women's Super lightweight division is her ability to throw explosive and precision-cutting combinations effortlessly in both forward and backward directions, as demonstrated in her last three fights between 2022 and 2023.