Katie Taylor named The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year 

Katie Taylor with her WBC, IBF, WBO and WBA titles

Undisputed world lightweight champion boxer Katie Taylor has been crowned The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year for 2020.  It is the Bray boxer’s fifth time to win the award.

Taylor enjoyed a highly successful 2020, defending her titles against Belgian rival Delfine Persoon and Miriam Gutierrez from Spain. Last year Taylor unified the lightweight division with a controversial majority decision over Persoon in a high-profile bout at Madison Square Gardens in New York. In August of this year, she fought Persoon again, this time at Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom HQ in Essex. Once again, the high-quality bout went the distance but this time all three judges gave it to the defending champion, on a score line of 98-93, 96-94, 96-94.

Taylor followed up that decisive victory with a comfortable win over Gutierrez in a mandatory defence of her WBC, IBF, WBO and WBA titles in November. Accepting the award from her US base in Connecticut, she said it was a privilege and a great honour to be recognised in this way.

“These have definitely been the most enjoyable few years of my whole career and this is coming after my lowest point as well, the Rio Olympics, so it really has been an amazing few years.” 

She was also asked if taking on tough fights – with their inherent greater risk – made her nervous.

“No, I think you have to risk failure to be actually great at any sport, in any part of life really. I think the biggest failure in life is actually not risking failure. You have to go and take that risk. To be great at any sport you have to do that, you have to step out and that’s how anyone becomes great really. And yeah I want to be the greatest of all time. I want to be the best. In order to do that you have to take on the best fighters in the world.

"I want to make the most I can out of the sport, but it’s all about legacy for myself. I just want to make history in my sport. I want to continue to break boundaries and that’s what it’s always been about for me. I’m always willing to take pay cuts if need be to make the big fights,” she said before joking “I shouldn’t be saying that out loud!”

Former soccer international star Olivia O’Toole, the most capped Irish women’s international soccer player of all time, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Sport 2020 Award.

O’Toole, who represented her country 130 times in a career which stretched from 1991 to 2009, is also Ireland’s record goal scorer at women’s international level with 54 goals.

Monthly winners:   December 2019 winner: Fionnuala McCormack (Athletics);  January winners: Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal (Cycling);  February winner: Rachael Blackmore (Horse racing); March winner: Diane Caldwell (Soccer);  April winner: Kellie Harrington (Boxing);  May winner: Orlagh Farmer (Gaelic Football);  June winner: Gina Akpe-Moses (Athletics);  July winner: Ciara Mageean (Athletics);  August winner: Katie Taylor (Boxing); September winner: Martina McMahon (Handball); October winner: Sanita Puspure (Rowing); November winner: Stephanie Meadow (Golf).