Katie Taylor’s Road to Becoming a Living Legend.

Katie Taylor (Right) defeats Victoria Bustos

Photo: ESPN

Katie Taylor is arguably the best women’s boxer in the world right now, and has been fighting all her life. Her father, Peter Taylor, a former Irish light heavyweight champion, began training her when she was just ten years old. Taylor’s father kept her on an intense regiment that saw her sparring with men and keeping in peak condition from a very young age.

Katie Taylor would later go on to fight in the first-ever officially sanctioned women’s bout in Ireland. The fight, held at National Stadium in Dublin, was immortalized in a painting by artist Paul MacCormaic featuring the then 15-year-old Taylor and her opponent Alanna Audley.

Alanna Audley (Right) and Katie Taylor (Left)

Photo: Irishnews.com

Taylor’s amateur career grew from there as she amassed a growing collection of gold medals between the European and AIBA women’s boxing championships. Taylor was making a name for herself on the global stage and in the world of women’s boxing.

Fight after fight, win after win eventually brought her to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She made it all the way to the final match in the lightweight division where she would go head-to-head with Russian opponent Sofiya Ochigava. Ochigava tried to play mind games with Taylor, implying she was spoiled by the judges and that she was “just another boxer.” Taylor was able to shrug it off and score a victory against Ochigava by judge’s decision, brought Ireland the gold medal, and catapulted her to stardom.

It would be a few more years, however, before Taylor would make her professional debut at Wembley Stadium. Here, she would knock out Karina Kopinska (13-36-4), a journeyman who had plenty of experience but few wins of her own, in the third round. From there, Taylor quickly worked her way up to fight for the vacant WBA Female lightweight championship in 2017 and won her first pro title by decision over Anahi Esther Sanchez, a former three-weight world champion (19-5).

Taylor would continue to rattle off victories and championships. Today, she is the undisputed lightweight women’s champion and remains undefeated (16-0) in her professional career. Taylor’s last fight was a title defense against Delfine Persoon back in August that saw Taylor win by unanimous decision. The brutal match saw both fighters coming out bloodied and bruised, but Taylor still reigned supreme with her trademark speed and ferociousness.

Taylor is now set to fight Miriam Gutierrez on November 14th to defend her WBA lightweight title. Gutierrez is not going to be an easy opponent, with the WBA interim-title and boasting an undefeated (13-0) record of her own. At this point, however, it seems nothing short of retirement can stop Taylor from continuing her dominance.