Katie Taylor’s farewell fight was confirmed on Friday for Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday, September 5, when she will face France’s Flora Pili in a bid to become a three-time undisputed champion in the final bout of her career. Matchroom Boxing announced the event at a launch press conference at the stadium, footage from which was published by BBC Sport. The card will be shown worldwide on DAZN.

Taylor (25-1, 6 KOs), 39, will defend her WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine super lightweight titles and contest the vacant WBC belt against Pili (12-0, 2 KOs). Victory would return her to undisputed status at 140 pounds for a third time.

“We did it, we’ve actually brought boxing back to Croke Park,” Taylor told the room. “This was on my career bucket list, especially these last couple of months, but this was beyond my wildest dreams. We’re actually here, we got it over the line.”

“This was really an impossible dream a few years ago, but here we are. I have goosebumps. I actually can’t believe I’m in this position right now,” she added. “This is going to be the most iconic moment of my whole career. I have a chance to fight in a packed house stadium at Croke Park, our most iconic venue. It’s the cathedral of Irish sport, really.”

A four-year pursuit

Taylor first spoke of headlining Croke Park after her opening win over Amanda Serrano in April 2022, but talks between Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom and the stadium’s operators stalled repeatedly over the following years. Hearn said the deal was almost never struck.

“Three months ago, four months ago, we sat in a restaurant and Katie told me she’s done, that’s the end of her career,” Hearn said. “It was a month or so later, she phoned up [manager] Brian Peters and said, ‘I can’t go, I can’t go until this happens, please make it happen.'”

“Every time it got tough, every time the doors would be closed, every time the barriers would come up, we thought about Katie Taylor, what would she do? Well, she would never be denied,” Hearn continued. “It’s not often I’m lost for words, but this is something beyond our wildest dreams. This will be the greatest night in the history of women’s boxing. The biggest crowd in the history of female sport for an individual athlete.”

Why Pili

Pili was confirmed as the opponent after the WBC named her as the leading contender earlier in the week. Taylor said she wanted a genuine test for her send-off.

“I didn’t want to end my career with someone I could walk over,” Taylor said. “After the last fight I wasn’t sure if I was going to fight again. The only thing that would give me that passion again was Croke Park, and I also wanted it to be in a real fight with real risk that gives me that drive and that hunger to go again, and I have that in Flora. It’s a real fight, it’s a very dangerous fight, and I have to be at my very, very best.”

“But I do imagine that ring walk, the last time I will be stepping into the ring,” she said. “I think of hearing that ‘ole, ole, ole’ around Croke Park one last time. It is going to be very, very special, and I want to put on a performance worthy of everyone’s support over these last few years.”

Pili, 28, is from Moselle in northeastern France. She turned professional in 2019, won the French title in 2022 and the European title in 2023, and claimed the IBO belt in December with a decision over Jelena Janicijevic. She is the mandatory challenger for Taylor’s IBF title and the leading contender for the WBC championship, which became vacant when Sandy Ryan relinquished the belt ahead of the birth of her first child.

Tour, tickets and broadcast

Manager Brian Peters, who has guided Taylor throughout her professional career, framed the night as the close of a long arc. “This is a fitting, final chapter to what has been one of sport’s great fairytales,” Peters said. “She’s reigned as a World Champion for 20 years and it’s been the most remarkable journey. She has seen and done it all, but winning back her Undisputed title at Croke Park will truly top everything that has come before.”

Taylor will begin a four-day promotional tour of Ireland on Saturday, starting in her hometown of Bray before stops in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Belfast. Tickets go on general sale through Ticketmaster on Friday, June 12, priced from €38.70, with family packages at €125.50 in a non-alcohol section of the stadium. A Matchroom Fight Pass pre-sale opens on Wednesday, June 10.

The card will be the first boxing event at Croke Park, the 82,300-capacity home of the Gaelic Athletic Association, since Muhammad Ali defeated Al “Blue” Lewis in 1972.