Katie Taylor sat down for lunch with her promoter, Eddie Hearn, and manager, Brian Peters.
The three of them had similar gatherings many times before discussing next moves and potential fights, but this was different. It was September 2025 and as the leaves fell, Taylor knew she was in the autumn of her career. Two months after another exhilarating battle with Amanda Serrano -- their third encounter and second time headlining at Madison Square Garden -- Taylor simply had nothing left to chase.
Certainly, nothing left to prove.
Taylor, driven by her relentless desire to break down barriers, had changed women's boxing forever. Even the words 'headlining at Madison Square Garden' would have been unthinkable, impossibly out of reach, at the trio's first huddle many years earlier.
Olympic gold, multiple world titles, headline fights in front of 20,000 fans at MSG and audiences into the tens of millions on television ... Just the tangible achievements of an iconic, not-to-be repeated career. After 10 years as a professional, the then 39-year-old was finally ready for the next chapter of her life which, Taylor says has been one big training camp.
But ... And it was a significant but.
Could we get Croke Park?
Croke Park, the huge 80,000-seat colosseum of Irish sport that looms over the Dublin skyline. The last boxing event there? Muhammad Ali vs. Alvin Lewis in 1972. The venue is as symbolic as it is imposing; a motif for Irish freedom.
During the Irish War of Independence, on Nov. 21, 1920 -- a day that became known as "Bloody Sunday" -- 14 people including three children were killed by British forces during a Gaelic football match at the ground.
Croke Park, then, is a stadium steeped in importance for the people of Ireland.
While she went to the stadium to watch Gaelic football and hurling as a kid, Taylor didn't start her career with the dream of fighting at "Croker." It was so unimaginable even for her. But as Taylor's status as an Irish sporting legend was cemented, the dream of a fight at the stadium spawned and eventually inched closer.
It still seemed a way off when, in 2023, Hearn said the stadium were taking "the absolute p---" in negotiations, claiming it was going to cost three times as much as hosting an event at Wembley Stadium in London. But, as the end of her career drew closer, Hearn and Peters set about making one last push to get Taylor the send-off she deserved.
With all involved sensing the enormity of the occasion, differences were put aside and a deal was made. Taylor will have one last ring walk on Sept. 5, taking on Flora Pili for the undisputed junior welterweight titles.
"I still pinch myself that this has actually happened. Politically, it's been so hard getting it over the line," Taylor says.
"I lost hope so many times over the last few years that this is going to happen. To get that phone call that we got it over the line, is the stuff of dreams. The fairytale ending I always wanted."
Some things have changed for Taylor over the years. Her professional debut came on an undercard in front of a couple of thousand people at Wembley Arena, backed, as always, by a strong Irish fanbase. Some in the crowd no doubt would have scoffed and said the fanfare wouldn't last.
A decade later, she commands audiences of tens of thousands, has a global appeal and gets paid closer to what she deserves.
Other things remain the same. The concrete garage she trains in when she returns home to Bray. Its rickety roller door opening to reveal cold walls covered in fight posters with the bare necessities sprawled inside: A bag, a few weights, and a sledgehammer to thump into a truck tyre on repeat. The work remains the same, too. The grind. Ahead of this last fight, Taylor says she is determined to enjoy things more. While it's a swansong, it's not in her nature to take any fight lightly.
To get a true sense of Taylor's achievements, you must imagine a world without women's boxing. That was the reality in Ireland when she started all of this.
As a child, no older than 10, she pretended to be a boy to get fights. She was listed as "K. Taylor" on the entry forms. Taylor was also an accomplished footballer who represented Ireland, but she was born with boxing in the blood, slipping her miniature hands into a pair of gloves not long after she could walk.
Father and former coach Pete, and brothers Lee and Peter, all boxed. Mum Bridget, who reads scripture with her daughter before her fights, was Ireland's first female boxing judge.
Trailblazing was in the blood, too.
Pete guided her career through to the 2012 Olympics. They were inseparable in the gym, with an almost telepathic connection. The breakdown in their relationship after Pete left the family coincided with the worst moments of Taylor's career, when she lost the opening fight of the 2016 Games in Rio.
The pair have reconnected in recent years; Katie has spoken of her love for her father who has been involved in the promotion of her final fight, re-telling stories of the early days.
The bitter ending came after a happy, long, successful, groundbreaking amateur career in which Taylor made history in her first official bout -- Ireland's first ever sanctioned women's fight -- against Alanna Audley in 2001.
The hunger to be the best, beat the best, and shatter perceptions was always there, according to Billy Walsh, former head coach of Ireland's High-Performance Unit, who is now at the helm of USA Boxing.
"Her work ethic was phenomenal, her skillset obviously was top class as well," Walsh says. "She never, ever would surrender or give up ... Always going into it with a positive mindset of wining every contest she went in."
That mentality came in useful as Taylor rose up the ranks and needed tougher sparring partners. Even though there was no pathway for women, Taylor was invited to train with the Ireland team by Gary Keegan, former high-performance director for Irish boxing. It was a pivotal decision.
While we see the rewards of her efforts now, being a pioneer means being on your own a lot. Looking around realising you're flying the flag solo.
One-of-one.
But in the ring, Taylor was never out of place. With no women on her level, the only option was to spar with the boys. They soon found out she was no soft touch, and it made for some great scraps.
"Female boxing was in its infancy, there was nobody good enough to spar with her," Walsh says.
"Some of the best fighting I've seen was in our gym with Paddy Barnes, the Olympic medallist, Michael Conlan, Olympic medallist and world champion. Her sparring with those guys was phenomenal. They made each other so good no matter what they faced outside of our gym, it wasn't going to phase them.
"Initially, some guys would go in there, try and take it easy ... Within 30 seconds Katie would let them know who she was. They had to be at their best to keep her away."
The International Olympic Committee had a fight on their hands with Taylor, too. Persistent lobbying to get women's boxing into the Games eventually earned her a shot at an exhibition in Chicago in 2007. It was essentially an audition in front of IOC suits to prove women were ready to box at the Olympics.
"They were [originally] talking about putting women's boxing into Rio [2016] but her performance brought it to London [2012]," Walsh says. "I know it was devastating at the time but [through] her perseverance and her performance that day in Chicago, she got female boxing single-handedly into the Olympic games in 2012."
Wait ... Devastating?
It was only five more years and an Olympic dream would be a reality for not just Taylor, but women fighters around the globe. Yet, Taylor was shattered upon learning of the decision. Heartbroken. She had been boxing officially for seven years and Beijing 2008 was her goal. It almost broke her.
"I've faced adversity and heartbreaking moments," Taylor says. "The ups-and-downs of the boxing life. The closest I ever came to quitting the sport was when I found out that women's boxing wouldn't be included in the Beijing Olympics. That was probably the closes I've ever been to giving up. Thank God I pushed on."
Taylor's London gold felt like destiny, and it propelled her to superstar status in Ireland. When you walk through the terminal at Dublin airport, you're greeted by, among others, a picture of Ali on his trip there in 1972. Further along the wall is Taylor.
Just like Ali, Taylor arrived in Dublin on an Aer Lingus flight and was greeted by thousands of fans. Unlike Ali, Taylor got to sit in the cockpit and leant out the window to display her medal to the nation.
"It was like nothing I've ever seen before, particularly in boxing," Walsh says of the celebrations. "It will never leave me."
Through her persistence and will to challenge the conventional thinking, Taylor didn't just open the door for women at the Olympics, she knocked it down with a thumping right hand, allowing a whole generation of fighters to follow.
"She was the girl. When I first stepped on the international scene, when I first started out, she was already that girl," Mikaela Mayer, who represented USA at the 2016 Olympics, tells ESPN.
"She was the reason that we got put in the Olympics. She's a legend in the making. She's going to be what everyone remembers ... When we think 100 years back, her name is going to be the name on top of everyone's list."
2016, while extremely difficult for Taylor personally and professional, was just the start.
After Rio, Taylor knew it was time to enter the professional ranks. Not entirely sure of how to go about things, she gambled and messaged Hearn on social media.
"Hi Eddie, hope you're well. I hope you don't mind me reaching out like this out of the blue. I've been seriously considering turning pro the last few months ..."
Hearn sensed the opportunity and took a meeting with Peters and Taylor's mum, Bridget. Suffice to say he was impressed. The thing that stood out? Taylor's desire to win. Not money, not sponsorships or commercial deals. There was no desire to be on the cover of magazines or splashed across billboards.
Winning.
Hearn, as you would expect, delivered a rousing speech at a news conference before her first fight in November that year. His confidence in Taylor was so strong that he announced on the spot the anticipated dates for her next two fights. Taylor linked up with coach Ross Enamait and relocated away from the Irish spotlight to Connecticut. By the end of 2017, they had won the WBA lightweight title and defended it, beating Jessica McCaskill. The partnership with Enamait would, of course, be successful.
The show was well-and-truly on the road. Over the next five years, Taylor did what she told Hearn she would, collecting belts like others collect sports cards or stamps.
Every great fighter needs an equal; someone to walk with on the path to greatness. For Taylor, that was Amanda Serrano.
The announcement of their 2022 bout was significant in itself. The first women to headline Madison Square Garden in the arena's 143 years of existence.
The actual fight?
Breathtaking. An instant classic.
High level boxing meets street fight as two generational greats slugged it out for 20 pulsating minutes. The result, Taylor by split decision, remains divisive. What is not up for debate is the magnitude of the event. Women's boxing, which for years had been banned, shunned, or at best featured on undercards, was front and centre at the Mecca of boxing. The old building shook as the Irish and Puerto Ricans crammed the auditorium and emptied their lungs.
Serrano, despite the result not going her way, gathered herself and articulated what they had just achieved.
"Women can sell. Women can fight. And we put on a hell of a show," she bellowed to the New York crowd, as if they needed reminding at that moment, given the awesome brawl they had just witnessed.
They both knew that night was about more than a boxing match. With the stitches on her right brow trying to close a fleshy cut and blood still oozing down her face, it dawned on Taylor that she had just broken yet another glass ceiling. Taylor and Serrano would be forever intertwined and had taken their seats in the pantheon of boxing greats.
"Madison Square Garden ... You think of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. People will absolutely be talking about myself and Amanda Serrano for years to come," she said. "This was a history making fight and it lived up to the expectation. I think that's the best part about this journey is being able to inspire young girls, inspiring the next generation.
"I think both myself and Amanda have broken down so many barriers in our sport."
It would be two years until their next meeting, but Taylor kept making waves, this time at home. A first professional defeat to Chantelle Cameron in May 2023 spoiled her homecoming fight in Dublin.
She was human, after all.
The result set up a tantalising rematch later that year which Taylor won and it added another intriguing chapter to a career in the form of a redemption fight.
Taylor has been a professional for a decade and devoted her life to the sport, but the last five years of her career in particular, with audiences of millions around the world and multiple fight of the year contenders, shows just how far she has carried the women's boxing.
The Serrano rematch on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson undercard was watched by almost 50 million households on Netflix. The trilogy sold out the Garden and was watched by an estimated 74 million viewers on the streaming giant. But the true testament of their legacy was the fact it topped an all-women's bill in New York.
From tucking her hair up into her headguard pretending to be a boy, to holding court at MSG, over two more emphatic fights with Serrano to now, that swansong at Croke Park. Taylor's legacy will, as Mayer said, more than stand the test of time.
"These last 10 years, I don't think my mind had the capacity to dream these things," Taylor says.
"Headlining MSG on a couple of occasions. Just to have the career I've had, the impact on the pro game like I have over the last few years has been so special. "I'm definitely walking away with a grateful heart. What a privilege it's been to have such an impact on the world of women's boxing."
The privilege, Katie, has been all ours.