80,000 Pack Croke Park for Katie Taylor's Final Fight — SkimNews
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- Katie Taylor, 40, faces unbeaten Frenchwoman Flora Pili (12-0, age 29) at Croke Park on Saturday September 5 in what she confirms is her final fight, closing a career that began with her disguising herself as a boy in a sport that barred women and ran through Olympic gold and undisputed titles.
- Croke Park is sold out at 80,000, with about 80% of attendees at their first live fight and 65% of tickets sold outside Dublin, marking the first time a female boxer has headlined Ireland's national stadium.
- Manager Brian Peters led a punishing 1,500-mile bus tour across all 32 Irish counties to promote the event, stopping in Kilkenny where thousands mobbed the gates; Taylor refused to drive past them, insisting on pulling over for group photos.
- The card will air free-to-air across Ireland and feature a performance by Westlife, with Taylor noting: "I don't think there are many other countries where 80,000 show up for a female athlete."
- Taylor frames her legacy in the doors she opened: "I'm so happy to see all these female fighters now don't have to go through the same opposition I went through. When I look back on my journey, that will be my greatest legacy."
- Promoter Eddie Hearn acknowledged he'll cry on the ring walk and in the post-fight interview, choking up mid-sentence during the final news conference as reality of Taylor's last fight week hit him.
- Challenger Pili has "quietly slipping through corridors" all week while media attention fixates on Taylor, telling reporters she arrives with "nothing to lose and everything to win."
Why it matters: Taylor's farewell sells out Ireland's national stadium and broadcasts free-to-air — the first time a female boxer has headlined Croke Park, with 80,000 in attendance and 65% of tickets sold outside Dublin. Taylor herself credits the trail she blazed as the reason girls can now walk into any boxing gym and find it "packed with female fighters."
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