Katie Taylor's Farewell Fight at Croke Park: A Career Finale

Katie Taylor asked for one thing before she walked away from boxing: Croke Park. On Saturday night in Dublin, she gets it – and the sport gets to say goodbye on her terms.

The 25-1 Irish icon closes the curtain on a gilded career against WBC mandatory challenger Flora Pili, with the undisputed super lightweight crown on the line. Taylor brings the WBA, WBO, IBF and The Ring titles to the ring and will reclaim the vacant WBC belt if she wins. One last fight, one last belt, one last roar.

She has been here before. From 2023 to 2025, Taylor ruled the 140-pound division as its undisputed queen, before relinquishing the WBC strap to step away and breathe after years at the sport’s summit. Sixteen months have passed since her last outing – the third chapter of her epic trilogy with Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden – and now she returns not to rebuild, but to sign off.

This is not a comeback. It’s an exclamation point.

‘Once Upon a Time’ in Dublin

Matchroom Boxing has wrapped its arms around the entire weekend, and Taylor vs. Pili is the jewel of the double-header. Billed as “Once Upon a Time,” the Croke Park show lands hours after a Matchroom-promoted edition of “The Fight” headlined by Andy Ruiz against Damian Knyba, turning Saturday into a rolling broadcast of prizefighting from afternoon to night on DAZN.

For Taylor, though, the opponent is only part of the story. The stadium is the story.

After closing the chapter on Serrano at the Garden, she made it clear: she would only lace up the gloves again if it meant a farewell at Croke Park in her native Dublin. Promoter Eddie Hearn promised to make it happen and has gone as far as calling Saturday the biggest and greatest night of his career. The stakes are emotional as much as they are sporting.

Taylor walks in with the belts, the legacy and the weight of a nation. Pili walks in with the WBC mandatory status and the chance to wreck a farewell script in front of tens of thousands.

Irish Fire on the Undercard

Taylor is not the only Irish fighter carrying expectation into the night.

In the co-main event, Paddy Donovan looks to kick-start another run of momentum when he meets Tyrone McKenna over 10 rounds at welterweight. Donovan arrives off a 12-round majority decision win over Karen Chukhadzhian in May, a result that helped steady a career that had hit turbulence with back-to-back defeats to former IBF welterweight champion Lewis Crocker. A win over the seasoned McKenna would feel like a proper reset.

Heavyweight cult favourite David Allen brings his familiar chaos to Dublin against local big man Thomas “The Bomber” Carty, an 11-1 home hope eager to seize the stage. Allen has barely stopped moving this year, stepping through the ropes for the fourth time in five months after consecutive four-round decision wins over Ross McGuigan and Dan Garber. He thrives on activity; Carty thrives on the idea of beating him in front of his own city.

The card also showcases a string of rising names and crowd-pleasers:

• Taylor Bevan vs. Emmet Brennan (10 rounds, super middleweight)
• Joe McGrail vs. Matthew Boreland (10 rounds, super bantamweight)
• Molly McCann vs. Sylwia Doligala (8 rounds, women’s junior featherweight)
• Paul Ryan vs. Paddy Gallagher (8 rounds, middleweight)
• Adam Olaniyan vs. Matej Hudak (4 rounds, heavyweight)
• Bobbi Flood vs. Jack Swallow (4 rounds, junior middleweight)

“Meatball” Molly McCann, the former UFC women’s flyweight standout, headlines the prelims in what will be her fifth professional boxing contest. At 36, she meets Sylwia Doligala, 8-2-2, in the third bout of the evening, a fight that offers her another step in a second combat-sports chapter.

The Croke Park prelims begin at 11 a.m. ET, with the main card scheduled from 2 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. BST, all live on DAZN.

An Early Start in Germany

For those who refuse a quiet Saturday, the day starts much earlier, in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Before Taylor’s ring walk, DAZN carries a 10-fight card promoted by Aldo Ricardo Silman and Primora Boxing, featuring a heavy German presence – 11 home fighters scattered across the bill. Headlining is former NABO super welterweight title challenger Slawa Spomer against undefeated Ghanaian Faisal Abubakari over 10 rounds at welterweight.

Spomer’s name is familiar for a painful reason. In February 2025, he absorbed a nine-round beating from former WBA and WBO 154-pound champion Xander Zayas, a defeat that threatened to define him. He has since started to rebuild, stopping Jaime Villegas in three rounds in February, and now tries to push his way back into relevance against the unbeaten Abubakari.

The undercard in Ludwigshafen is busy and varied:

• Fedor Michel vs. Ralfs Vicans (10 rounds, light heavyweight)
• Ibo Diallo vs. Shefat Isufi (10 rounds, cruiserweight)
• Franklyn Dwomoh vs. Cristian Villanueva (8 rounds, lightweight)
• Dominique Roundtree vs. Tamas Kiliti (6 rounds, featherweight)
• Alexander Okafor vs. Daniil Iudin (6 rounds, light heavyweight)
• Omar Jagana vs. Mario Turiello (6 rounds, light middleweight)
• Jasurbek Yuldoshev vs. Jacob Miller (6 rounds, light heavyweight)
• Sebastian Busch vs. Artur Andrejev (4 rounds, super middleweight)
• Lucas Vogt vs. Sun Tiebo (4 rounds, light middleweight)

The German show begins at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT, also on DAZN, setting up a full day that runs straight into the Dublin spectacle.

A Night That Belongs to Taylor

On paper, this is a Matchroom double-header, a DAZN marathon, a global boxing Saturday. In reality, everything orbits around one walk from one fighter.

Katie Taylor, the Bray Bomber who carried women’s boxing from sideshow to centre stage, will step into her dream venue in her hometown, belts around her waist, against a dangerous challenger with nothing to lose. If she wins, she leaves as the undisputed super lightweight champion. If she doesn’t, she still leaves as the fighter who demanded the biggest stage for her final act and got it.

When the lights cut through the Dublin night and the crowd rises at Croke Park, the numbers and schedules will fade. What will remain is a simple, sharp question:

How does a legend choose to say goodbye?