Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. In her amateur boxing career, Taylor won five consecutive gold medals at the Women's World Championships, gold six times at the European Championships, and gold five times at the European Union Championships. Hugely popular in Ireland, she is credited with raising the profile of women's boxing at home and abroad. Since turning professional she is the undisputed and lineal world lightweight champion since 2019, and the undisputed and lineal world super lightweight champion since 2023.

Bray, Ireland—population 31,000—is a quiet seaside community on the commuter line to Dublin. Taylor grew up in Ballywaltrim, a working-class neighborhood, the youngest of four siblings. Her father, Pete, won the Irish light-heavyweight title in 1986. He began training his two sons, Lee and Peter, when they were teenagers. When Katie was 11, she decided she wanted in. “There’s something very addictive about a boxing gym,” she says. “The sound, the smell, the people—I just loved all of it.”

One problem: In the late 1990s, women’s boxing was banned in Ireland. Taylor could train and spar, but there were no sanctioned amateur fights. Behind the scenes, Taylor’s parents—her mother, Bridget, was Ireland’s first female boxing judge—lobbied the Irish Amateur Boxing Association. Taylor, meanwhile, would tuck her hair under her headgear and register at boys tournaments under the name “K Taylor.” Eventually, the Irish authorities relented. In 2001, Taylor, then 15, defeated Alanna Audley in the country’s first official women’s boxing match.

Success followed quickly. Five world titles. Six European championships. In her 20s, Taylor abandoned a promising soccer career (she had been offered several scholarships to U.S. colleges) to focus on boxing. When the Olympics added women’s boxing in 2012—a landmark moment widely credited to public pressure applied by Taylor in the years leading up to it—Taylor stormed to gold in the 132-pound division.

In 2016, Taylor, having split from her father trainer found her career at a crossroads following an early exit at the Olympics. She believed she could do for women’s pro boxing what she did for the amateur sport. Six years, 22 wins, titles in two weight divisions, record making appearances at Madison Square Garden and Ireland’s 3Arena Stadium later, has proved all the doubters wrong.