When Ireland needed Katie Taylor most, she delivered
![When Ireland needed Katie Taylor most, she delivered When Ireland needed Katie Taylor most, she delivered](/cms_media/module_img/7728/3864187_9_articlesmall_2687775.jpg)
Bloodied but unbowed, Katie Taylor fought back after the earlier defeat by Chantelle Cameron to become two-weight undisputed champion. Next stop, Croke Park? Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
The Bray woman electrified the 3Arena and thousands of homes across the country in an unforgettable display of courage, fortitude, and dazzling hand speed as she became a two-weight undisputed world champion.
For the first time, she came to the ring as the underdog against an opponent as she faced another warrior as fearsome as herself, Chantelle Cameron.
Many of her greatest supporters, as well as thousands in the raucous but anxious crowd, were guided by the heart rather than the head for the first time in a Katie Taylor fight.
Logic dictated the 37-year-old was on the wane, while her formidable opponent was on an upwards trajectory in her career.
That’s just how the softly-spoken, yet iron-willed, Katie Taylor likes it.
Write her off at your peril.
![Katie Taylor during her undisputed super lightweight championship fight with Chantelle Cameron at the 3Arena in Dublin on Saturday night. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile Katie Taylor during her undisputed super lightweight championship fight with Chantelle Cameron at the 3Arena in Dublin on Saturday night. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7728/3864178_10_articleinline_2687758.jpg)
There are not many sporting icons that can perform at the highest level for a couple of years, never mind a couple of decades, but Katie Taylor proved all doubters wrong with one of her finest ever displays in the ring.
It takes two to tango, as the saying goes, and her English opponent played her part in one of the best prizefights ever seen in an Irish ring.
The supersonic din that greeted the scorecards said it all, with Katie’s hand being raised creating another “where were you?” moment in the annals of Irish sport.
Already cemented in Irish folklore due to her Olympic gold medal in 2012 — among other achievements — Katie now becomes one of the most decorated in the annals of boxing history.
Becoming an undisputed champion in boxing — unifying various governing bodies’ championship belts in a single weight class — is rare in the modern era.
Becoming a two-time undisputed champion in two weight classes, as she did when adding Cameron’s super-lightweight belts to her own lightweight titles,
is the preserve of the super-elite.
![Peer, no pressure: Katie Taylor celebrating on Saturday night with fellow boxer Amy Broadhurst after defeating Chantelle Cameron in her undisputed super lightweight championship fight at the 3Arena. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile Peer, no pressure: Katie Taylor celebrating on Saturday night with fellow boxer Amy Broadhurst after defeating Chantelle Cameron in her undisputed super lightweight championship fight at the 3Arena. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/7728/3864181_10_articleinline_2687775_1_.jpg)
Already assured of immortality for her ability to unify all stripes of political and cultural divides, it would not be remiss to think that Katie Taylor deserves a well-earned retirement.
Not so. That Croke Park dream remains alive. She said:
“I’m nearly offended I was the underdog for this fight. Don’t ever doubt me.
“The last fight you saw the worst of me and the best of Chantelle, and I think it was still a close fight. Tonight you saw the real me, and when I box like that nobody can beat me.
“Let’s get the trilogy at Croke Park ... It takes two to tango.
"Chantelle is a phenomenal fighter, a phenomenal champion, and she deserves everything she gets as well.
"To have a trilogy would be a great respect for both of us. That’s exactly what we both want.”
Who would bet against an 80,000 sellout if the Croke Park fight happens?