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Katie Taylor has won an Olympic gold medal, world titles in two weight classes and set a record unlikely to be surpassed for the most-viewed women's professional boxing bout. She has also won a remarkable 19 world title fights, never avoided a rival and is an undisputed champion in two weight divisions. That's a ridiculous list of achievements, yet the biggest legacy 39-year-old Taylor (25-1, 6 KOs) leaves as she retires after Saturday's fight is how she broke gender barriers to pioneer the mainstream rise of women's professional boxing, while inspiring a generation of girls and women. Taylor has repeatedly proven that female fighters can draw massive, sold-out global audiences and has elevated the earnings potential of female professional boxers. She has achieved all of this without trash talk, prolific social media activity and an influential PR strategy. Taylor's long-time manager Brian Peters once aptly described her as an "extraordinary ordinary person." "When I look back on my career, I suppose I didn't expect to achieve this much," Taylor said recently. Taylor's boxing journey began when she had to disguise herself as a boy to compete in her native Ireland after she first boxed aged 10. It ends at the sold-out 80,000 Croke Park stadium in Dublin, 15 miles from her hometown Bray. Taylor, who holds the IBF, WBA and WBO junior welterweight titles, attempts to become undisputed world champion for a third time vs. Flora Pili (12-0, 2 KOs), from France, with the vacant WBC belt also on the line. Only Claressa Shields, who operates in heavier weight divisions, has been an undisputed world champion three times in women's professional boxing and Taylor's quest is typical of how she has continually chased new achievements and redefined the highest standards in women's boxing. Taylor and Shields (18-0, 3 KOs), 31, along with Amanda Serrano (49-4-1, 32 KOs), 37, have been the biggest achievers in women's boxing. While Shields, from Detroit, has won titles in more weight classes (five), some like two-weight world champion Natasha Jonas argue Taylor has the greater legacy. Jonas, who lost to Taylor at the 2012 Olympics and then again for the world title in 2021, told ESPN in 2025: "There was a massive increase in numbers of women who boxed after the 2012 Olympics, something like 70%, and we now have a lot more women boxing at the Olympics and the professional sport is a lot stronger than it was. There has been so much of an increase in participation and a change in attitudes to women's boxing since 2012 so Katie and Claressa's legacy is massive for me. Instead of people saying 'Oh it's only women's boxing' now it's 'that's a good fight,' there's no differentiation. "When you look at the people who Katie has fought and beat -- Chantelle Cameron, Amanda Serrano, myself, Delfine Persoon, Jessica McCaskill -- in the top 10 then when you are looking at who has had the biggest impact on boxing, it has to be Katie [who has the biggest legacy]. Without Katie, because she was in the Olympic test event before 2012, because she was such a star going into 2012, and because she has attracted so much interest since, women's boxing wouldn't be as big as it is today. "When I first got into the British Olympic boxing team, it was all about Katie Taylor, just like it was about Vasily Lomachenko at the time in the men's amateur sport. Then look at how popular she is as a professional and how many big fights she's had against the likes of Amanda Serrano. Katie is talking about fighting at Croke Park -- who else in women's boxing could sell out 80,000 as main event? Because Claressa Shields couldn't. "The conversation around women's boxing and the attention around it, the interest that has been gained is a credit to the likes Katie, Amanda and Claressa, women's boxing owes them." Taylor won her first world amateur title 20 years ago, after being the only girl in her local boxing gym. Taylor once said: "When I started boxing, I had a lot of obstacles, I want to be remembered as the one who opened the door for those young girls so they could get through." By the time Taylor boxed at the 2012 Olympics in London, the first Games to feature women's boxing, she was a hot favourite for the gold medal as well as being national hero in Ireland. Thousands of Irish fans somehow managed to get tickets for all her fights at the ExCeL where she won lightweight gold, a spine-tingling moment nobody who was there will forget. Taylor's earnings, popularity and titles have since surpassed even her own expectations of her career. Taylor told ESPN in 2019: "When I started I didn't know where it was going to go, what people's perceptions of women's professional boxing would be, but I've boxed in all these big stadiums and venues, like Madison Square Garden in my last fight, and one of the main things I wanted to do was to become undisputed world champion. This next chapter is going to be my greatest, yet the best is yet to come." She was right. Taylor has racked up some great wins over rival champions and others on the top 10 pound-for-pound list and avenged her only defeat to Cameron. But her three fights vs. Serrano, the greatest ever rivalry in women's boxing, stand out. Taylor and Serrano became the first women to headline a boxing card at the Garden in 2022. After a thrilling fight, a 2024 rematch that was streamed on Netflix and shattered records by averaging 74 million viewers globally, becoming the most-watched women's sporting event in U.S. history. The trilogy fight attracted six million viewers globally to Netflix last year. "There shouldn't be any ceilings or limitations on girls pursuing greatness in sport," Taylor told DAZN in 2022. "If you want to win an Olympic gold medal, you can do that. If you want to headline MSG, you can do it. If you want to become a champion, you can absolutely do that. There are no limitations. It's so important for every single girl to know they are good enough and to believe in ourselves. Believe that nothing is impossible. "I think the most satisfying part for me is having an opportunity to inspire the next generation, and to have an impact on the next generation. I want these young girls growing up to surpass anything that I've ever done. And I think that's what real legacy is all about. I want to be there to inspire them." Taylor will be remembered as one of leading figures in transforming women's professional boxing and lifting it into mainstream interest. "The most satisfying part about this is that I've been able to change my sport," Taylor told Sky Sports recently. "People's perceptions of women's boxing have completely changed. When I turned professional ten years ago women's professional boxing was virtually non-existent. Now a few years later we are headlining stadiums in Madison Square Garden on huge platforms like Netflix and now I'm ending my career in front of 80,000 people at Croke Park, that's how far women's boxing has come. Every show now you are seeing women boxers, it's been amazing progress in one generation." Lauren Price, the WBC, WBA and IBF world welterweight champion who was considered as an opponent to face Taylor at Croke Park earlier this year, told ESPN recently: "I remember seeing her when I had just started out at the World Championships in China in 2012 and she won the world amateur title and won the Olympic gold medal later that year. What she has done for women's boxing has been great and I've looked up to her over the years. I want to do something like she has done with the Irish fans with my Welsh fans. She deserves her farewell fight at Croke Park." Taylor, who attributes her Christian faith as a major factor in her success, moved to train in Connecticut, United States, a decade ago and now lives there. Despite being hugely popular in Ireland, this will be only her third appearance there. "I'm hugely grateful to be able to fight there, it's been a dream of mine to fight there for four or five years," Taylor said. "I have to keep control of my emotions and get the job done, I'm definitely going to be holding back the tears. It's not going to be a sad moment, but a moment of joy looking back on a whole career. Whatever the outcome in the ring, Taylor's final fight promises to be emotional. Boxing will sorely miss her.