Donald McRae: Katie finally gets her ‘fairytale ending’ with Croke Park homecoming

My favourite memory of following her was the night in April 2022 when she and Amanda Serrano headlined Madison Square Garden in New York. It’s still one of the greatest fights I’ve ever seen live.

BE LIKE ME: The legendary Katie Taylor with young fan Clodagh Keating ahead of Saturday's Once Upon A Time fight night to close out a remarkable career at Croke Park. Pic: James Crombie, Inpho

Thu, 03 Sep, 2026 - 09:01

Donald McRae

“I won’t be like Tyson Fury, coming back again and again,” Katie Taylor told me with a little smile a few years ago as she explained how, when she finally retired, she would leave boxing for good. The moment is almost here because, on Saturday night, in front of 80,000 fans at a fevered Croke Park, Taylor will fight for the very last time. She will depart as a quietly defiant pioneer and an overwhelming force for good – both in Ireland and women’s boxing.

The fight game is full of heartbreak and broken promises, corruption and damage, but it also produces singular characters who elevate the world. Joe Louis in the 1930s, and Muhammad Ali in the 1960s, had a profound impact on American society. In a very different world today, Oleksandr Usyk is also more than a boxer. He remains an inspiration and a source of undimmed hope in wartime Ukraine.