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Chapter 1: Why is Katie Taylor's fight in Croke Park significant?
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Good afternoon. You are very, very welcome to LiveLine. 51551 is the text number. You can email LiveLine at rte.ie or give me a call on 087 484 888. That's the WhatsApp number. So like I say, you can call on it, you can text on it, you can send a voice note, whatever is handiest for you. And Anna Moore is on the line, the so-called mammy of Irish boxing.
Anna, how excited are you at the announcement that we're all expecting in about 13 and a half minutes time, I think, to be precise, that Katie Taylor's going to be fighting in Croke Park.
I'm over the moon. I am just so elated over it. Because do you know what? She is a good ambassador for boxing. She lived in Ireland all her life. She's Irish. She's a world athlete at the top of athletes that are world class. Katie will be one of them. And through professional boxing... when the women's boxing weren't getting horses.
When Katie came in, Katie started getting the big horses and everybody wanted a boxer. And she never, ever refused. I am so proud to hear that she's going to be in Croke Park. You know, it's just amazing.
Can you remember, Anna, the first time you saw her fight?
First time I saw her boxing... was in the National Stadium in 2001. Ireland were boxing Denmark, and herself and Alana Murphy from Benefest, they had a contest at halftime. This is when they were trying to show what female boxing, that it could go, you know, that it wasn't anything to be frightened of for girls, and it was outstanding.
And I remember saying to Sadie Duffy, who was on the committee with me at the time, if this is what female boxing is about, well, I'm in. Because in the beginning, I was nervous because of breast cancer and those kind of things, you know.
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Chapter 2: How does Anna Moore feel about Katie Taylor's boxing journey?
they probably wouldn't have, we say, a female coach there at the time, you know. And they were nervous. It's no good saying they weren't. And I'd say mostly that would have been concern for clubs, you know. But Katie never let it hold her back. Even at the beginning when she went away for the first maybe one or two, her dad paid for that and brought her away.
And then as she progressed to Europeans and Worlds, then at that stage female boxing was in Ireland. And Katie would actually be the only one. I went away numerous times to Worlds and Europeans. But at that time, it would be just Katie on her own in the beginning. And it was just you just to watch her. Everybody. I mean, there was a man, Mr. Wu was his name.
He was the chairperson of the World Boxing. And no matter where we were, whether I was with Katie and the girl, the elite, or whether I was with school or novice, he would always say to me, where is No, he didn't know my name. So he'd say, Arlanda, how is Katie? And I'd say this now, and this is the truth. Only for Katie Taylor, there'd be no box in the Olympic Games today.
And I can put my hand on my heart and say that.
You think she was that important outside of Ireland even?
Oh, yes. I remember, I think it was China we were in. And she was after winning. And she stood there for an hour saying, letting people take photographs with her, doing autographs. You know, I mean, she'd stand. She never refused anybody, even though she would have been sweating and cold and needed a shower.
But she never, ever refused to do an autograph or a photograph with anybody that was there.
What was she like behind the scenes then?
She was very quiet. She had her own routine. She had her prayers done. And her dad used to bring a big, big case of food for her. You know, he'd always have a case of food going there. She mightn't come down at breakfast, she'd come down for lunch, you know. But when Katie got in the zone, that was it, like. She was in the zone and that was it. And then her mam, her mam would go to the hotel.
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Chapter 3: What were the challenges Katie faced in her early boxing career?
The next thing is we're flying out on Wednesday to the Four Nations in Scotland. We have 15th, 17th, 19th and Elite. And I just want to say it'll be brilliant. We haven't been in the Four Nations for a long time. But all the kids, myself, we're all so looking forward to being back there. And these are the boxers. for the next Olympics or the Olympics after that.
All right. Well, we'll keep an eye on that for the weekend and maybe some names will jump out.
It starts Wednesday. It's going to be on YouTube from Wednesday until Sunday next week.
Brilliant. YouTube next week and you'll find out then who you might be cheering on in LA or Brisbane. Anna, listen, thanks a million for chatting to us. So at two o'clock, we've been told to expect the announcement. These things might run. I'm still listening.
I'm still listening.
They might run a couple of minutes late. They often do. But in the next five or six minutes, hopefully we will have confirmation. We're certainly expecting it that Katie Taylor is going to be fighting in Croke Park. So stay with us.
Lots still to come on the show.
Like I say, confirmation in the last few minutes at that press conference that Katie Taylor's farewell fight is going to happen at Croke Park. The dream is going to be realised for the brave boxer. She's going to be facing Flora Pilly on September 5th, defending her WBO, WBA, IBF and Ring Magazine titles and fighting for the vacant WBC Super Lightweight Championship as well as all the others.
It weren't enough. I think we've got actually a little clip of promoter Eddie Hearn speaking in the last few minutes.
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Chapter 4: What impact did Katie Taylor have on women's boxing in Ireland?
I'm entitled for that. But someone that has worked tirelessly for these kind of moments. And when Katie Taylor walks out at Croke Park on September the 5th, if there is a dry eye in the house, I will be astonished.
So that was Eddie Hearn. And here is Katie Taylor herself.
Amazing. This was on my career bucket list, especially these last couple of months, but this is beyond my wildest dreams. We're actually here. We've got it over the line, and that's a huge thanks to yourself, Eddie, and Brian, and every single person on this table. They've been tenacious in getting this over the line. This was really an impossible dream a few years ago, and here we are.
This is going to be the most iconic moment of my whole career. I have a chance to fight in a packed-out stadium in Crowe Park, our most iconic venue. It's the cathedral of Irish sport, really.
Yeah, that was Katie Taylor herself speaking in the last few minutes. September 5th, put it into your diaries, folks. Una Kelly, RTE reporter, was there at the press conference. Una, what else did we learn?
Yes, Ciarán, well, I think there was just a feeling of a lot of goodwill towards Katie in the room. People were applauding when she came out. But I think people will know that Katie Taylor herself, the way that she carries herself, tends to be fairly low-key and pretty humble.
And you'll have heard in that clip there the kind of reverence she has for this Croke Park fight calling it the Cathedral Rite.
of Irish sport she did also say that she's not doing this for herself she's doing it for the nation who supported her and Irish people buying into women's boxing and she thanked everyone for the respect that's been given to her as well she did describe Flora Pilly as a dangerous opponent and said that that's going to be a real challenge but she did also say that she fully intends to end on a career best performance so who else was down there at it what were they saying
Yeah, well, we would have heard there Eddie Hearn as well, the promoter. And look, if I had a euro for every time the word the greatest has been used at this press conference, I'd be doing quite well for myself. He talked, of course, about the greatest moment in the history of female boxing. He talked about paying tribute to the Irish people in terms of the support that they've given Katie.
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