"When Katie Taylor first began competitive fights, she had to pretend to be a boy in order to box. As a child, her father - and later coach - Pete Taylor, himself a former boxer, had taken Katie with him to the gym when there was no babysitter. There she had seen her older brothers Lee and Peter sparring, and got involved."
""Women's boxing [in Ireland] was kind of unheard of when I was growing up," Taylor, who was born in 1986, tells me now. We're sitting in a suite high up in Croke Park, overlooking the pitch where Taylor has just had her photograph taken. Walking about the stadium in Taylor's wake is quite something, everyone turns to smile excitedly at the sight of the small Bray woman, regularly described as Ireland's greatest ever athlete."
Katie Taylor is approaching 40 and hopes to end her boxing career with a final fight at Croke Park. She is married, guided by faith, and actively campaigns for women's participation in sport. Taylor began competitive boxing by pretending to be a boy because women's boxing in Ireland was uncommon. Her father and later coach, Pete Taylor, brought her to the gym when no babysitter was available, where she watched her older brothers Lee and Peter spar and became involved. Taylor was born in 1986 and draws enthusiastic public admiration; people turn to smile excitedly at her presence.
Read at Independent
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