{"id":718491,"date":"2026-06-06T06:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T06:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718491\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T06:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T06:47:11","slug":"katie-taylor-to-fight-flora-pili-at-croke-park-on-september-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718491\/","title":{"rendered":"Katie Taylor to Fight Flora Pili at Croke Park on September 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katie Taylor\u2019s farewell fight was confirmed on Friday for Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday, September 5, when she will face France\u2019s Flora Pili in a bid to become a three-time undisputed champion in the final bout of her career. Matchroom Boxing announced the event at a launch press conference at the stadium, footage from which was published by BBC Sport<\/a>. The card will be shown worldwide on DAZN.<\/p>\n

Taylor (25-1, 6 KOs), 39, will defend her WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine super lightweight titles and contest the vacant WBC belt against Pili (12-0, 2 KOs). Victory would return her to undisputed status at 140 pounds for a third time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did it, we\u2019ve actually brought boxing back to Croke Park,\u201d Taylor told the room. \u201cThis was on my career bucket list, especially these last couple of months, but this was beyond my wildest dreams. We\u2019re actually here, we got it over the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was really an impossible dream a few years ago, but here we are. I have goosebumps. I actually can\u2019t believe I\u2019m in this position right now,\u201d she added. \u201cThis is going to be the most iconic moment of my whole career. I have a chance to fight in a packed house stadium at Croke Park, our most iconic venue. It\u2019s the cathedral of Irish sport, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

A four-year pursuit<\/p>\n

Taylor first spoke of headlining Croke Park after her opening win over Amanda Serrano in April 2022, but talks between Eddie Hearn\u2019s Matchroom and the stadium\u2019s operators stalled repeatedly over the following years. Hearn said the deal was almost never struck.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree months ago, four months ago, we sat in a restaurant and Katie told me she\u2019s done, that\u2019s the end of her career,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cIt was a month or so later, she phoned up [manager] Brian Peters and said, \u2018I can\u2019t go, I can\u2019t go until this happens, please make it happen.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time it got tough, every time the doors would be closed, every time the barriers would come up, we thought about Katie Taylor, what would she do? Well, she would never be denied,\u201d Hearn continued. \u201cIt\u2019s not often I\u2019m lost for words, but this is something beyond our wildest dreams. This will be the greatest night in the history of women\u2019s boxing. The biggest crowd in the history of female sport for an individual athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why Pili<\/p>\n

Pili was confirmed as the opponent after the WBC named her as the leading contender earlier in the week. Taylor said she wanted a genuine test for her send-off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to end my career with someone I could walk over,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cAfter the last fight I wasn\u2019t sure if I was going to fight again. The only thing that would give me that passion again was Croke Park, and I also wanted it to be in a real fight with real risk that gives me that drive and that hunger to go again, and I have that in Flora. It\u2019s a real fight, it\u2019s a very dangerous fight, and I have to be at my very, very best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do imagine that ring walk, the last time I will be stepping into the ring,\u201d she said. \u201cI think of hearing that \u2018ole, ole, ole\u2019 around Croke Park one last time. It is going to be very, very special, and I want to put on a performance worthy of everyone\u2019s support over these last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pili, 28, is from Moselle in northeastern France. She turned professional in 2019, won the French title in 2022 and the European title in 2023, and claimed the IBO belt in December with a decision over Jelena Janicijevic. She is the mandatory challenger for Taylor\u2019s IBF title and the leading contender for the WBC championship, which became vacant when Sandy Ryan relinquished the belt ahead of the birth of her first child.<\/p>\n

Tour, tickets and broadcast<\/p>\n

Manager Brian Peters, who has guided Taylor throughout her professional career, framed the night as the close of a long arc. \u201cThis is a fitting, final chapter to what has been one of sport\u2019s great fairytales,\u201d Peters said. \u201cShe\u2019s reigned as a World Champion for 20 years and it\u2019s been the most remarkable journey. She has seen and done it all, but winning back her Undisputed title at Croke Park will truly top everything that has come before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor will begin a four-day promotional tour of Ireland on Saturday, starting in her hometown of Bray before stops in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Belfast. Tickets go on general sale through Ticketmaster on Friday, June 12, priced from \u20ac38.70, with family packages at \u20ac125.50 in a non-alcohol section of the stadium. A Matchroom Fight Pass pre-sale opens on Wednesday, June 10.<\/p>\n

The card will be the first boxing event at Croke Park, the 82,300-capacity home of the Gaelic Athletic Association, since Muhammad Ali defeated Al \u201cBlue\u201d Lewis in 1972.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katie Taylor\u2019s farewell fight was confirmed on Friday for Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday, September 5, when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-718491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}