![\"Katie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_GettyImages-1179704038.jpg\")
<\/p>\nShe was preaching to a congregation of sorts. Boxing fans, running club members, media and influencers – all hanging on her every word as she fielded questions on everything from her boxing career to a final fight in Dublin and everything in between.<\/p>\n
Then a question from the floor, from someone looking for an inspirational message to take back to his church, to share with the congregation there.<\/p>\n
He wanted the back-story to Katie Taylor\u2019s journey in Christianity, and how her faith had helped her get through the tough days.<\/p>\n
Taylor has never been shy to show her gratitude to God, or throw in a piece of scripture, into an interview.<\/p>\n
But what was it that turned the Bray boxer, Olympic champion and world champion to a higher power?<\/p>\n
We were at Intersport Elverys in Fonthill for the unveiling of Taylor as Brooks Running\u2019s newest ambassador when mental health advocate Aidan Loughnane posed the question.<\/p>\n
There was silence from the floor as she delivered her response.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy journey in faith has been so connected to how my mam became a Christian,\u201d started Taylor.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mam [Bridget], as a young woman, she won\u2019t mind me saying this, she is here today, she was a heavy drinker, a heavy smoker.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer life was very, very chaotic, my father\u2019s life was very, very chaotic as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had four little kids and they were in their early-20s, and it was a bit of a crazy, chaotic home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t much structure there, there wasn\u2019t any real vision for a good life, just two broken people trying their best to raise four young kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then she delivered the lines that – like one of her famous uppercuts – KO\u2019d her audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mam walked into a coffee shop one day after a tragic incident happened,\u201d Taylor explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our neighbours, there was this house fire where basically the whole family passed away, it was a family of six and only two people survived.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that really deeply affected my mam, that house fire, that made her think there has to be more to life than this.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Katie Taylor with her mother Bridget and trainer Ross Enamait following her WBO Women’s Super-Lightweight World title fight against Christina Linardatou at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.(Image: \u00a9SPORTSFILE\/ Getty Images )<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next day she went for a walk, she went into a coffee shop, and a couple were in there that had been very kind to her as a teenager.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis couple had invited her to Bible studies as a young girl, and they left a deep impression on her, and that the couple just invited her to church.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went to church with them and that was the start of the journey for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe started to follow God, she became a Christian, she gave her life to the Lord.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd honestly it was night and day in the house after that, there was peace in our house for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave up drinking, she gave up smoking, there was a sense of peace in her as well, there was a sense of life in our house.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019d speak of peace and hope and life to us as young kids. She started to tell us that God had a plan for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe started to tell us that with God nothing is impossible, that God could turn humble things into great things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis became part of our normal lives. And so from then on my journey as a Christian started.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really remember specifically when I became a Christian, it\u2019s just that the God that rescued my mam became my God too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just heard scripture in my house all the way up, I heard my mam praying with such deep conviction as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt became the cornerstone of my life, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor spoke about the hardships, about the 2016 Olympic quarter-final defeat in Rio and the 3 Arena defeat to Chantelle Cameron in May 2023, and how her faith got her through those times.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fell in love with the Word of God, and the Word of God has become my cornerstone, I would say,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gotten me through so many tough, tough moments in my life as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen things aren\u2019t going well for me I walk through with peace and assurance just because I know that God is walking with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, yeah, for me living my life with Christ has been the most remarkable journey and I am so grateful for the goodness of God all my life, his faith, he is such a faithful God, he cares about every detail of my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for me I know, I\u2019m confident that it wasn\u2019t just my hard work or my talent that got me to where I was, but that God literally transformed my family life and he transformed my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for that I am forever grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
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