If you’re searching for Katie Taylor’s next fight, here’s the short answer: there isn’t one. On 5 September 2026, the Bray Bomber beat Flora Pili by unanimous decision in front of 83,000 people at Croke Park, became undisputed champion for the third time, and announced her retirement in the ring. We build championship belts for a living, so a career that ended with every major title in the division around one fighter’s waist, plus a one of a kind WBC belt made just for her, is exactly the kind of story we pay attention to. Here’s how it ended, who she was as a fighter, and what those belts actually are.
Table of Contents
Does Katie Taylor Have a Next Fight?
No. Katie Taylor retired after beating Flora Pili (100-90, 100-90, 98-91) at Croke Park in Dublin on 5 September 2026, and she confirmed it in the ring as soon as the scorecards were read.
She’d been clear about it for months. After finishing her trilogy with Amanda Serrano in July 2025, she told RTÉ she planned one last fight in Ireland, with Croke Park top of her wish list. The Pili fight was billed as her farewell from the day it was announced. That means the super lightweight division now has to crown new champions without her. For where every major title sits right now, see our breakdown of who holds every boxing world title.
Could Katie Taylor Come Back?
Anything is possible in boxing, but nothing points that way. Before Croke Park, fans floated a fourth Serrano fight and a Chantelle Cameron decider, and Taylor herself had publicly brushed off a third Cameron fight as a commercial non starter. She’s 40, she went out at the venue she’d chased for years, and she left holding every major belt in her division. We’re treating it as final, and so is she.
Katie Taylor vs Flora Pili: How Her Final Fight Played Out
Pili came in at 12-0, eleven years younger, holding the IBO title and ranked as the mandatory challenger for Taylor’s IBF belt, with the vacant WBC title also on the line. On paper she was the dangerous kind of farewell opponent, the kind with nothing to lose and no interest in the storybook ending.
It didn’t play out that way. The last Katie Taylor fight was a clinic: she set the pace with her jab from the opening bell, pushed Pili onto the back foot, and won the exchanges with faster, cleaner combinations. Pili had her moments, most of all in the seventh round, but they got rarer as the fight went on.
The Scorecards and the Result
Two judges scored it 100-90, a clean sweep of all ten rounds. The third had it 98-91. The win took her final professional record to 26-1 and made her undisputed at super lightweight for the second time.
83,000 at Croke Park: A Record Crowd
The attendance matters as much as the result. More than 83,000 people packed Ireland’s national stadium, the largest crowd ever assembled for an individual women’s sporting event. It was also the first boxing at Croke Park since Muhammad Ali fought Al “Blue” Lewis there in 1972, a night that drew around 18,000 people and lost its promoter money. Fifty four years later, general sale tickets for Taylor’s farewell sold out in about half an hour.
Katie Taylor the Boxer: The Career Behind the Farewell
Strip away the farewell and look at the numbers, and the case for Katie Taylor the boxer as the greatest women’s fighter of all time is hard to argue with.
From Bray to London 2012 Olympic Gold
Taylor built her game in the amateurs, finishing with a 176-12-1 record. At London 2012 she beat Russia’s Sofya Ochigava in the lightweight final to become Ireland’s first female Olympic boxing champion. She turned professional in 2016 and won the WBA lightweight title against Anahà Ester Sánchez within about eleven months of her debut, then added the IBF and WBO belts. In June 2019 at Madison Square Garden she beat WBC champion Delfine Persoon to become the first ever undisputed women’s lightweight champion.
The Serrano Trilogy and the Cameron Rivalry
Two rivalries defined the second half of her career. Against Amanda Serrano she went 3-0: a split decision at Madison Square Garden in April 2022, a unanimous decision at AT&T Stadium in Arlington in November 2024, and a third win back at the Garden in July 2025. Against Chantelle Cameron she took the only loss of her professional career, a majority decision in Dublin in May 2023, then won the rematch six months later at the same arena to become undisputed at super lightweight.
Three Time Undisputed at 40: The Records She Holds
- Final professional record of 26 wins and 1 loss.
- Three undisputed reigns, one at lightweight and two at super lightweight, making her only the fifth boxer, male or female, to go undisputed three times.
- The oldest boxer ever to become undisputed champion, at 40 years and 65 days, passing Bernard Hopkins.
- Headliner of the biggest crowd ever for an individual women’s sporting event.
Who Is Katie Taylor’s Husband?
Katie Taylor is married to Sean McCavanagh, an American realtor. The couple married privately in 2025, and she has kept the relationship largely out of the public eye.
Taylor has always guarded her personal life. The marriage only became widely known after her father mentioned it in a podcast interview, and the couple were first seen together publicly in September 2025. She has said McCavanagh, a father of five, was surprised by how much attention the relationship gets and is camera shy himself. Years earlier, asked which question from the media annoyed her most, she named relationships, and pointed out that male boxers don’t get asked it. We answer it here because people search for it, but her career is the story.
What “Undisputed” Means to People Who Make Championship Belts
Undisputed means holding the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO world titles in one weight class at the same time. That’s four separate organisations and four physically different belts, each with its own strap, plate layout and design history.
From our side of the workbench, that’s the part fans underrate. When a fighter goes undisputed, they aren’t collecting four copies of one trophy. The WBC belt is green leather with a gold centre plate ringed by member nation flags. The WBA, IBF and WBO each have their own plate shapes, emblems and strap styles, built to their own specs. Undisputed is four separate pieces of boxing history on one fighter’s shoulders.
The Belts Katie Taylor Retired With
At Croke Park, Taylor defended the WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine super lightweight titles and won the vacant WBC title. Flora Pili arrived as the IBO champion, a belt plenty of fans still underrate. If you’re curious why, we’ve explained what makes an IBO belt different from the WBC or WBA.
The WBC “Queen of the Celts” Belt, Explained
The belt that drew the most attention wasn’t a standard title belt at all. Ahead of the fight, the WBC announced a one of a kind “Queen of the Celts” belt for the winner, created with WBC Ireland to honour Taylor’s career and Irish heritage. According to the WBC, every element carries a meaning:
- The Irish harp, one of Ireland’s oldest national emblems, for heritage.
- The Celtic cross, joining the cross with an ancient sun circle, for faith.
- The trinity knot and Celtic knot border, for eternity and connection between generations.
- The Celtic crown, for a reigning queen of the sport.
- The Celtic warrior queen, inspired by Grace O’Malley and Queen Maeve, for courage.
- The triskele, for growth, and the shamrock, for Ireland.
Looking at it as belt makers, what stands out is restraint. The WBC kept its own centre plate almost untouched, flag ring, logo and all, and told the Irish story around it: a “Queen of the Celts” banner under the logo, an enamelled Irish tricolour, strap trim in green, white and orange, harp and Celtic cross side plates, and small shamrocks studded between them. That’s the right call. A commemorative belt still has to read as a WBC belt from across the room, and this one does.
What Separates a Championship Grade Belt From a Cheap One
Photos flatten everything. Here’s what actually separates a championship grade belt from a cheap one once it’s in your hands:
- Weight. The officially licensed WBC replica weighs about 4 lb. Our own full size WBC style replica runs 2.6kg (5.7lb) in brass. A belt that feels light usually has thin zinc or plastic plates.
- Plate material and thickness. Brass at 3mm to 4mm bends instead of cracking. Zinc at 2mm to 3mm is fine for display but can crack if dropped. The centre plate on our WBC style belt is 1cm thick.
- Plating depth. “24K gold” on a replica means electroplating over brass or zinc. A deep plate holds its colour for years, a thin flash plate shows brassy patches within months.
- Enamel work. On a WBC style belt, the flag ring gives it away. Clean enamel with sharp borders between colours looks right. Muddy, bleeding colours look cheap instantly.
- Strap and stitching. Real or premium synthetic leather, stitched at the plate mounts rather than glued.
We go deeper on all of this in our guide to how championship belt replicas are actually made.
Our Take: How Katie Taylor Changed What a Women’s Title Belt Means
For most of boxing history, the special belts, the commemorative one offs with a story built into the metal, went to men’s mega fights. The WBC designing a bespoke belt for a woman’s farewell, then putting it on the line in front of 83,000 people, draws a line in the sand. Taylor didn’t just win belts. She changed what the sanctioning bodies think a women’s fight is worth building a belt for.
What the Coverage Keeps Getting Wrong
Two things. First, the belt gets treated as a prop. Headlines lead with the crowd and the scorecards and give the belt one line, when the WBC built a unique piece around her story. Second, the personal questions. One of the most searched things about the best women’s fighter of her generation is who she married. She’s pointed out herself that male boxers don’t get asked that. Her legacy is 26 wins, three undisputed reigns and a stadium full of people. That’s what should lead.
The Katie Taylor Tribute Belt We Were Asked to Make
We’ve had a customer ask us for a WBC style belt inspired by Katie Taylor, not as a gift but for her own collection. [FILL IN: what she asked for, such as strap colour, name plate text, Irish details, material and turnaround.] That’s the kind of order we love: someone who followed a career closely enough to want a piece of it on their own wall.
Every tribute belt we make is an original design inspired by a fighter or a moment, not an official sanctioning body belt. If you want one built around a career you followed, browse our custom championship belts. We send a digital mockup before anything goes into production, and a typical build takes 8 to 15 working days.
Katie Taylor FAQ
What was Katie Taylor’s final professional record?
26 wins and 1 loss, with 6 knockouts. Her only defeat came against Chantelle Cameron in May 2023, and she won the rematch six months later.
How many times was Katie Taylor undisputed champion?
Three times: at lightweight in 2019, and at super lightweight in 2023 and again in 2026.
Did Katie Taylor win an Olympic gold medal?
Yes. She won lightweight gold at the London 2012 Olympics, becoming Ireland’s first female Olympic boxing champion.
What weight classes did Katie Taylor fight at?
Lightweight (135 lb) and super lightweight (140 lb). She was undisputed champion in both.
Can I order a belt inspired by Katie Taylor?
Yes, as an original tribute design. We don’t make official WBC, WBA, IBF or WBO belts, but we can build a custom belt inspired by her career, with your own colours, name plate and details.
Written by Ibrahim Zaheer, who runs Retro Shields, hand building custom and replica championship belts out of Sialkot, Pakistan since 2002, shipped worldwide.
