Katie Taylor's Croke Park finale: All you need to know

Katie Taylor brings the curtain down on a decorated and trailblazing boxing career when she takes on French opponent Flora Pili on Saturday night at Croke Park.

Here are all the details on the eagerly-anticipated fight at GAA HQ.

WHEN

A quarter of a century after her first fight as an amateur – against Alanna Audley at the National Stadium in Dublin – Taylor's final act in the ring takes place on Saturday. In all nine fights are scheduled, starting with Paul Ryan taking on Paddy Gallagher at 4.05pm.

The main undercard starts at 7pm when Taylor Bevan and Emmet Brennan cross paths at super middleweight.

All eyes will be on the main event between Taylor and Pili, with the pair expected into the ring just after 10pm.

WHERE

Haven’t you heard? The Katie Taylor to Croke Park had shades of the Garth Brooks saga, with many fearing one of Ireland’s greatest ever athletes would retire without getting to sign off on the biggest Irish stage of them all. In early June confirmation arrived that the Bray woman, and her adoring fans, would get that wish after both Matchroom and Croke Park made concessions after a frosty start to their relationship.

A sellout crowd of 80,000 has put paid to some initial fears that reaching full capacity would be a challenge. The pre-sale tickets were snapped up, while the remaining 40,000 on general sale sold out in less than 20 minutes.

TV/STREAMING

RTÉ will broadcast the fight live free-to-air, with coverage beginning on RTÉ and RTÉ Player from 8pm. Streaming platform DAZN, which operates on a subscription basis, will broadcast the fight worldwide.

RADIO

Live radio commentary of the fight will be broadcast on RTÉ 2fm

ONLINE

We'll have a live blog to take you through round-by-round and a report from the fight shortly afterwards.

FRENCH FOE

It would be interesting to know what a straw poll of the Irish general public would reveal if asked to name Katie Taylor's opponent on Saturday night.

Flora Pili doesn't have nearly the same star power as Amanda Serrano, or even the familiarity of Chantelle Cameron. The French woman is undefeated from 12 professional fights since joining the paid ranks in 2019, but the majority of those have been held at her native Saint-Avold region of northern France.

To say she has come in under the radar somewhat would be a mild understatement, with her Italian coach Christian Cherchi admitting they were stunned to be chosen as Taylor's final opponent.

Her last bout was last December, and seems comfortable with the role of party pooper at Jones' Road.

"I am the underdog for the fight but I have nothing to lose and everything to win," she said earlier this week.

CAREER RECORDS

Katie Taylor (25-1)

Flora Pili (12-0)

2012 Olympic champion Taylor has enjoyed an incredible professional career since reaching out to Eddie Hearn in November 2016 and subsequently joining the pro ranks. The 40-year-old secured the historic trilogy against Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden to cement her global legacy, while her ultimate battling skills were required to edge past Delfine Persoon.

The only blot on her copybook was defeat to Chantelle Cameron in May 2023, outpointed by the English fighter for the undisputed light-welterweight belts.

Aged 36, some felt this was the end of the road, but she avenged that defeat three months later before downing Serrano twice.

A former French youth champion in 2015, Pili proceeded to win the national super lightweight title in 2019.

Her amateur record beyond France was modest with no Olympic appearance and just a European Under-22 quarter-final exit in 2019.

After turning pro in 2019, she is unbeaten from 12 fights, with all but two of them on home soil.

Pili's most recent fight in December last year saw her claim the vacant IBO World Super Lightweight title, beating Serbia's Jelena Janicijevic by majority decision.

HALLOWED TURF

Getting the fight at Croke Park over the line has been an achievement in itself. The sniping comments from the Matchroom Boxing and Croke Park have given way to a more harmonious relationship. Eddie Hearn describing Croke Park director Peter McKenna "me old mucca" a nod to the easing of past tensions.

Much has been made - primarily be Hearn it must be noted - of Mohammad Ali's famous visit to Croke Park in July 1972 (four days before Offaly defeated Kildare in a Leinster football final in front of 26,000 spectators) an occasion that has grown in significance with each passing year. The key difference this time around is that the 2026 spectacle will be something of a showstopper on the night also.

Only 18,000 attended the fight 54 years ago, a good portion of whom got in for free and the event wound up losing money for its promoter - Killorglin-born publican Michael 'Butty' Sugrue. There are no such fears for Hearn. The jocular promoter generally would not be backward in coming forward, but his early dealings with the GAA powerbrokers suggested a more fragile confidence that one would normally associate with the 47-year-old.

"People can deflate your spirit, which is quite unusual for me, but they (Croke Park) did deflate my spirit a little bit over the years because they made me question whether we could do it or if it would actually work," he revealed this week.

"And I'm disappointed in myself, actually, that I allowed that to happen because maybe we could have done it earlier. But then I didn't have the confidence that I had going into it this time with (Irish promoter) Peter Aiken involved and the three Amanda Serrano fights.

"Croker helped out as well and they were fantastic in the end, but I never thought we'd do 40,000 tickets on a pre-sale. How many could we have done? I don't know, maybe another 40, 50, 100,000?" he said, with the confidence firmly back in rude health.

UPTOWN GIRL

Taylor's walk-on songs are often Christian worship tracks and custom Irish collaborations, sometimes handing over responsibility to her team to pick standard tracks for her fights.

The 40-year-old is hoping that come 11pm on Saturday she will be Flying Without Wings after the biggest and final victory of her career, all the more likely with Westlife, who have previously performed six sold-out shows at the venue, confirmed as a headline performer.

Taylor, who has been creating a world of her own since first lacing up her gloves, will have other musical acts involved on the big day, with further announcements expected.

COMPLETE SCHEDULE

The undercard will provide plenty of other interest for boxing enthusiasts. Paddy Donovan's tussle with Tyrone McKenna is the standout fight on the undercard, with Donovan looking to continue on his journey towards a world title.

Taylor's cousin and former MMA fighter, Molly McCann, is strongly fancied to move her professional record to 5-0, Dublin-born heavyweight Thomas Carty is looking to bounce back after defeat last time out while something has to give in the super middleweight showdown when the undefeated records of Taylor Bevan and Irish Olympian Emmet Brennan are put on the line.

10.08pm Katie Taylor v Flora Pili – WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO super lightweight titles

9.04pm Dave Allen v Thomas Carty – Heavyweight

8.07pm Paddy Donovan v Tyrone McKenna – Welterweight

7pm Taylor Bevan v Emmet Brennan – Super middleweight

6.30pm Molly McCann v Sylwia Doligala – Super bantamweight

5.40pm Joe McGrail v Matthew Boreland – Super-bantamweight

5.05pm Adam Olaniyan v Matej Hudak – Heavyweight

4.40pm Bobbi Flood v Jack Swallow – Super welterweight

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