Don’t count her out: Katie Taylor adds to legendary career

Rumors that Katie Taylor was no longer the same great fighter after losing to Chantelle Cameron by majority decision six months ago, as well as theories that she was in decline at the age of 37, have been hit by the Irishwoman’s brilliant display on Saturday at a packed 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland.

Taylor’s majority decision victory over Cameron (98-92, 96-94 and 95-95) in the rematch to become the undisputed junior welterweight champion revealed that she is far from done in the sport, with more great parties to come.

When Taylor looks back on her career, avenging her only professional loss to become undisputed champion in a second weight division (she is also the current undisputed lightweight champion) will perhaps top the list of best moments.

Taylor won gold at the 2012 Olympics, the first time women’s boxing was at the Olympics. Then she won her first world title in 2017, defeating Delfine Persoon (twice) to become undisputed lightweight champion, which seemed like a career high, but Taylor then beat Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden in April 2022 in what has been described as the biggest women’s boxing event in the history of the sport.

Taylor’s first meeting with Cameron was planned with the intention of making it a happy homecoming – her first home performance in seven years as a professional. After losing to the younger, bigger Cameron in a weight class above what she was used to, Taylor was expected to produce higher levels of performance than she had managed against the English fighter in May.

And she delivered the performance of her career when she needed it most. Despite all the doubts and pain she would have felt during her first professional loss, Taylor used the defeat to develop her craft and improve at her training base in Vernon, Connecticut.

The result was a vibrant performance, with Taylor’s speed, timing and intelligence winning him a few rounds before Cameron became more dangerous afterward.

Taylor immediately called for the trilogy fight with Cameron, who welcomed the opportunity. There is no other fight this big for Cameron, unless she moves up a weight class to fight IBF welterweight champion winner Natasha Jonas and Mikaela Mayer, who meet on January 20 .

But Taylor has other options for the final chapter of his career. Taylor defeated Puerto Rican Amanda Serrano (46-2-1, 30 KOs), 35, based in New York, by split decision at Madison Square Garden in New York in April 2022, and would have the advantage of being the fighter naturally bigger in a rematch against Serrano, who made a successful defense as undisputed featherweight champion against Danila Ramos last month.

Luring Serrano to Ireland could be tempting for Taylor’s team, for a fight that would generate greater international interest with arguably less risk for Taylor.