Katie Taylor is biding her time before making a decision about her fighting future.
The Irish superstar Taylor, 25-1 (6 KOs), dazzled when winning her trilogy fight against Amanda Serrano in New York in July.
It meant she swept their series 3-0, and Taylor indicated after the fight that she would be closely considering her next step.
“I’ve just been relaxing at home with family,” she told Matchroom’s Flash Knockdown podcast. “Life has been as normal as it can be since. It was a great night at MSG and great to reflect.
“It was a great way to cap off the trilogy. I knew I had the potential and ability to make it easier for myself; I’m so glad I showed that with my boxing skills. It wasn’t a war this time. I came out unscathed.
“My name will be embedded with Amanda’s [Serrano] forever. They have been three history-making fights. I have the utmost respect for her.
“The one fight I really, really want is at Croke Park. That would top off my career so well. There’s been so much talk over the past few years, but I’m still clinging on to the hope that one day I can fight there. It would be the icing on the cake for me.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn is due to meet with Taylor tomorrow.
“Until I have that meeting, we haven’t really talked about it,” Hearn said of Taylor boxing on. “She said after the Serrano fight, ‘If I fight again.’ That’s the first time I’ve ever heard her say that.
“I thought after the fight, ‘What a great time to retire.’ I don’t know. Now, a bit of time passes, I go, ‘I could do one more.’ But I would say she’s 50-50 in her head.”
Hearn suggested that a third fight with Chantelle Cameron (they are tied 1-1) and a bout against Holly Holm could be options.
Hearn heard Holm might face Stephanie Ham later this year, but he added: “Holly Holm’s got the kind of profile that would be a big fight. To be honest, Katie can fight anyone. But if you go to Croke Park, obviously, it’s going to have to be a big, big fight.
“But there’s time for Katie. She’s definitely not going to fight this year or early next year. So in her head right now, if she’s going to have Christmas, I don't think she’ll make an actual decision maybe even this year. How you feel today probably will be very difficult to [say compared to] how she feels in January or February. The worst thing to do is to retire and then in January go, ‘Do you know what? I think I'll have another fight.’”
And Hearn is not expecting an answer tomorrow either, although he had heard that Jake Paul was interested in trying to help finance Taylor’s Croke Park dream.
“Yeah, you can fund it if you want to,” Hearn said.
“I mean, we’ve taken his money the last two times [against Serrano]. It’s been absolutely beautiful. You know, Katie’s made an absolute fortune. I want to take this opportunity to thank Jake Paul for lining her pockets. And I’ve had a couple of good nights as well.
“But we can do it. We can do it ourselves. And, you know, I think people like, obviously, Chantelle will try and goad Katie. Katie has no fear of anyone. Like, she beat Chantelle last time in a good fight. It’s a tough fight. But if Katie had an absolute war against Serrano in the Garden and got through. I think everyone would have looked at her and gone, that's it now, isn’t it? But because she won so easy and actually boxed the best, in a way, people don't always understand. She boxed like Katie Taylor from the amateurs, right, as in, it was a masterclass with feet and speed that you just can’t beat.
“But she chose to box the other way for so long. And don’t get me wrong, it’s been giving her some amazing fights. But when you have a performance like that, you think, ‘You could probably do another one, couldn’t you?’ But she'll decide.”
Last week Taylor was in Sunderland, UK, where she watched her managerial stablemate Tiah-May Ayton shine on the Pat McCormack undercard.
“Tiah-Mai Ayton is a generational talent,” Taylor said. “In my opinion, she will go on to become the greatest of all time. I think she is very, very special. I’ve never seen a female fighter like her before. This girl is very special.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, is on The Ring ratings panel and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
