Katie Taylor

Taylor first began boxing in 1996, aged 10. Her father coached her and her two older brothers, Lee and Peter, at St Fergal's Boxing Club, which operated out of a former boathouse in Bray. At 15, in 2001, she fought in the first officially sanctioned female boxing match in Ireland, at the National Stadium, and defeated Alanna Audley from Belfast.

List of title fights

2005 European Amateur Boxing Championship

Taylor's first noteworthy success was at the 2005 European Amateur Championships, in Tønsberg, Norway. She won the gold medal, defeating Eva Wahlström of Finland in the final of the 60 kg lightweight class.

2005 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship

Later in 2005, at the World Amateur Championships in Podolsk, Russia, Taylor advanced to the quarter-finals in the 60 kg weight class, where she lost to Kang Kum-Hui.

2006 European Amateur Boxing Championship

At the 2006 European Amateur Championships in Warsaw, Poland, Taylor won her second successive gold medal by stopping reigning world champion Tatiana Chalaya of Russia, also collecting the tournament's Best Boxer award.

2006 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship

At the 2006 World Women's Boxing Championship, contested in New Delhi, India, Taylor became Ireland's first World Champion, defeating Chalaya again in the semi-final and then Erica Farias of Argentina in the 60 kg final.

2007 European Amateur Boxing Championship

In 2007, she won her third successive European Championship title in…

Debut and early career

After a successful 15 year amateur career spanning 189 fights Taylor would reach out to promoter Eddie Hearn and soon after officially sign with Matchroom Boxing becoming the first female boxer to sign with the promotion. Taylor made her professional debut on 26 November 2016, scoring a third-round technical knockout (TKO) over Karina Kopińska at the Wembley Arena in London. In her second professional bout she faced Viviane Obenauf on 10 December 2016 at the Manchester Arena, Manchester. The fight was televised live on Sky Sports Box Office as part of the undercard for the Anthony Joshua vs. Éric Molina heavyweight world title fight. In a bout which saw Taylor score a knockdown in the second round after Obenauf appeared to slip, and the latter suffer a cut to her left eye following an apparent clash of heads, Taylor won by a shutout six-round points decision (PTS) with the referee scoring the bout 60–53. She scored two more wins in March 2017—against Monica Gentili via fifth-round TKO and Milena Koliva via PTS over eight rounds—before facing Nina Meinke for the vacant WBA International female lightweight title on 29 April 2017 at the Wembley Stadium. The bout served as a final eliminator for the WBA female lightweight title and was televised live on Sky Sports Box Office as part of the undercard for the Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko world title fight. Taylor controlled the contest from the opening bell with her speed and combination…

Katie Taylor was born on 2 July 1986 in Bray, County Wicklow, the daughter of Irish mother Bridget (née Cranley), and English-born father, Pete Taylor. She has an older sister, Sarah, and two older brothers, Lee and Peter; the latter is a mathematics professor at Dublin City University. Her father, who was born near Leeds and grew up in Birmingham, first visited Bray to work with his own father in the amusement arcades on the seafront. After meeting and marrying Bridget, he decided to settle in Bray. In 1986, he became the Irish senior light heavyweight champion. Originally an electrician, he later became Taylor's full-time boxing coach. He also coached Adam Nolan who, like Taylor, represented Ireland at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Bridget also developed an interest in boxing and became one of the earliest female referees and judges in Ireland. Between 1999 and 2005, Taylor attended St. Kilian's Community School in Bray. Her three older siblings had also attended the school. As well as boxing and playing association football, she played ladies' Gaelic football and camogie with her local GAA clubs, Bray Emmets and Fergal Ógs. She was a member of Bray Runners, a local athletics club, and several American colleges reportedly offered her sports scholarships while she was still studying at St Killian's. She instead chose to attend University College Dublin, known for its sports scholarship programme, which she qualified for through her Leaving Cert results. As her sporting career…

Taylor and her family attend St. Mark's Church in Dublin, which is part of the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal denomination. In 2002, at the age of 15, Taylor appeared on RTÉ's Sport Stream and discussed her aim of one day appearing at the Olympics. She was a coach on RTÉ's Charity Lords of the Ring in 2009, and appeared in a Lucozade Sport advertisement in 2011 alongside English rapper Tinie Tempah and American musician Travis Barker. She became the brand ambassador for Its4women, an online insurance company aimed at young women, in 2016. She appeared in advertisements for the company on television and YouTube. My Olympic Dream, Taylor's "illustrated memoir" written with assistance from The Irish Times sports writer Johnny Watterson, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2012. In 2018, the documentary Katie was released, chronicling her early life and her route to her first title shot. She has a fondness for the Irish language and once appeared on Bernard Dunne's show Bród Club to promote it. On 15 June 2018, Taylor's father, Pete, was a victim in the Bray boxing club shooting. He was shot in the chest and arm but survived. In 2025, Taylor appeared with her new husband, American real-estate agent Sean McCavanagh. As of November 2025, they live in Connecticut, where Taylor is stepmother to McCavanagh's five children from his late wife.