On July 11, Katie Taylor headlines the bill at New York's Madison Square Garden for her highly anticipated third fight with Amanda Serrano. In a print exclusive, Michael Doherty catches up with the undisputed Super Lightweight champion of the world to get the lowdown as the big night approaches.
In January 1997, Drogheda featherweight Deirdre Gogarty defeated Bonnie Canino in New Orleans to become the first Irish woman to secure a world boxing title. Despite the achievement, the fight caused few ripples back home where women's boxing was illegal at the time.
Indeed, most Irish people were unaware that we even had a new world boxing champion. Most people, that is, apart from a 10-year-old Bray boxer named Katie Taylor, who immediately wrote an impassioned letter to Deirdre Gogarty, celebrating her great victory and bemoaning the lack of opportunities for girls to follow in her footsteps.
Two decades on, Katie is now a multi-belt champion, credited with getting women’s boxing into the Olympics and filling the world’s biggest arenas, but she recalls that moment with great fondness.
"I do remember that letter I sent to Deirdre," says Katie, smiling. "I also remember the support and encouragement that Deirdre offered me through my entire teenage years. For someone like Deirdre to send me back letters, and to meet up with me every time she was home in Ireland was just brilliant. I even did a couple of training sessions with her, and that support from someone who I really looked up to meant more to me than anything. She was a fantastic fighter, and it’s because of women like Deirdre that we’re in this position today."
When Deirdre claimed that world title, her winning purse was $12,500, not one cent of which ended up in the Irish woman’s pocket. By contrast, both The Bray Bomber and the seven-weight world champion Puerto Rican, Amanda Serrano, are set to receive record-breaking, seven-figure purses for the trilogy fight, again raising the benchmark as the highest-paid female fighters of all time.
So it goes when your previous fight averages 74 million viewers and becomes the most-watched women’s sporting event in US history.
Despite all the brouhaha surrounding this third Taylor-Serrano fight (much of it generated by her opponent’s promoter, Jake Paul), Katie is calmness personified.
"I feel great," says Katie. "Everything is going to plan, thank God. I feel better than I did before the last fight. From week to week, I am getting sharper and feeling stronger in training camp. I’m excited for fight night. What an amazing opportunity to fight at the Garden again, and on Netflix. When I first laced up a pair of gloves as a nine- or ten-year-old, I don’t think anybody would have imagined I would be in this position today. I’m so grateful for this amazing journey! To headline such an impressive all-female card is just remarkable."
While that impressive undercard, boasting such talented fighters as Chantelle Cameron and Alycia Baumgardner, is indeed remarkable, all eyes are on the main event. The two previous contests between Taylor and Serrano – 10 rounds at the Garden in 2022, and 10 rounds in Arlington, Texas, last November – were both fights for the ages, and Katie managed to get the nod each time.
Not that the champ is resting on her laurels.
"You always must make little adjustments for every fight," Katie explains. "It’s the person who adjusts the better in these three clashes that wins the fights. It’s all about adapting to the challenge, and I think we’re on the right track. I out-boxed her the first time and out-fought her the second time, so I feel like I am in a good position for the third fight. Right now, I'm staying laser-focused and doing what I must do every single day in training. I’ve been giving it my all, and I’m going to be giving my all again on flight night."
Looking back over Katie’s remarkable professional career, the Bray champion has certainly given it her all. And she has carved out a remarkable career on her own terms. No trash talk, no gimmicks and no stunts, such as that perpetrated by her opponent at the weigh-in when the Puerto Rican fighter donned a head-guard to suggest that any head-clashes between the two adversaries were deliberately orchestrated by the Irish fighter.
"I have never felt the need to trash talk," says Katie, "and I’m not going to start now! I just quietly do my job and then quietly step into the ring to showcase what I can do. And one thing is for sure: I'm going to leave it all in the ring. I’ve always had such a will to win, and I always give my heart and my soul, so I don’t need to change who I am. I just need to keep doing my job and give my all in the ring, because I absolutely love this sport."
Win, lose or draw on July 11, Katie Taylor owes nothing to the sport, to the Irish fans, or to anyone else, for that matter. Since the young Bray girl first tucked her long hair into her headgear and stepped into the ring to fight boys, she has revolutionised her sport and become the most iconic Irish sportsperson of all time.
Five years after Deirdre Gogarty’s world championship victory, it was a 15-year-old Katie who contested (and won) the first-ever sanctioned female fight in Ireland, at Dublin’s National Stadium. Her outstanding amateur career led to multiple European and World championships, culminating in an Olympic gold at London 2012.
Katie’s professional career has also been marked by quality performances in which the Bray boxer has utilised her tremendous balance, quick feet and pinpoint accuracy to great effect, hoovering up belt after belt with a record comprising 24 wins and just one defeat (to Chantelle Cameron via majority decision in 2023).
Though not a knockout merchant in the brutal manner of a Lucia Rijker or a Christy Martin, Katie is not afraid to slug it out in the centre of the ring with anyone, and she rarely takes a backward step.
Despite turning 39 in the days leading up to Serrano 3, Katie maintains the same punishing training regime that she has adopted for decades, pounding the hills of her adopted home in Connecticut at ungodly hours with a will to win that is unrelenting.
"The reason I've been able to keep going for so long," Katie explains, "is because of how much I love my sport. I still haven't lost that drive. I’m still as passionate about my sport today as I was when I first laced up a pair of boxing gloves. I love preparing for battle and getting into that mindset you must reach when you’re putting your body through torture in training camp.
"There are days when I wake up and don’t want to move, but you must show up! I feel like this is a gift that God has given me, and I want to honour God with that gift. I wake up so grateful every morning that I have this opportunity, so I don't take it for granted. To have the opportunity to headline a huge show at Madison Square Garden against a top fighter is an amazing position to be in, so I am ready to give it my all."
As Katie gives it her all on July 11, she will be backed by a legendary chorus of Irish support. Amanda Serrano may be Brooklyn-based but, as was the case during the first fight between these two at this same New York venue, Madison Square Garden will be festooned in green, and it will resonate with Irish voices.
"I’m obviously laser-focused when I’m in the ring," says Katie, "but thinking back on that first fight gives me goosebumps even now. I could barely hear the bell! The Irish support generated a party atmosphere, and once again they are taking over New York. It’s amazing to see all the tricolours.
"Every single time I get into the ring, it makes me so proud that I’m representing my country and the people of Ireland. I love the fact that I'm Irish, and that I get a chance to box for my country. I was so proud to represent Ireland at the Olympics. Even though I’m not an amateur any more, every time I step into that ring, I’m representing that tricolour."
As Katie prepares to head into her final pre-fight camp, there’s just one question that remains. What will be the last thing on her mind at The Garden just before the bell rings, the seconds are invited to leave the ring, and it’s just she and Amanda Serrano in the spotlight?
"The same things I’ll be thinking in the week leading up to the fight," says Katie. "She's not going to outwork me. She can't hurt me. I'm going to outbox her; I’m going to out-fight her. I’ll be saying those things to myself, and it will put my mind in a good position where she can't penetrate me. I'm stepping into that ring and when the bell rings, I'm going to go for it."
And we’re right behind you, Katie.
