For seven long years, the world of professional boxing has been absent from Ireland. After a gangland murder at a Dublin weigh-in in February 2016, which prevented major boxing promotions in Ireland, the sport has been unable to flourish in the country. The murderous feud between the Kinahan and Hutch cartels had been sparked by a shooting in August 2014, and since then, eighteen people have been murdered in the ongoing war between the two gangs.
The absence of professional boxing has been particularly hard for Irish Olympic champion Katie Taylor, who turned pro in 2016 and has been shut out of her own country since then. Taylor, as the most significant female boxer in the world, and the most cherished sporting personality in Ireland, will fight professionally in her home country for the first time on Saturday night in Dublin. At 36, she remains remarkably humble and devoted to boxing, with a flawless 22-0 pro record.
However, as she prepares for her first pro fight on home soil, uncertainty surrounds Taylor’s fight. The undisputed world lightweight champion has moved up a division to challenge Chantelle Cameron, who defends all her belts as the imposing super-lightweight world champion at the 3Arena – less than three miles from the scene of the Regency Hotel gangland murder. This crime prevented major boxing promotions in Ireland for seven years and was a turning point in the feud between the Kinahan and Hutch gangs.
Jamie Moore, who will be in Cameron’s corner as her chief trainer, was shot twice outside Kinahan’s home near Marbella. It was another case of mistaken identity, but it demonstrated the violent nature of the feud between the two gangs. Kinahan established himself as a boxing power-broker, setting up a boxing management company called MGM in 2012, with Matthew Macklin, whom Moore fought against in 2006 before becoming his trainer. MGM eventually became known as MTK Global.
Despite being deeply private, Taylor has been hurt by her exile from her home country. She will be cheered on by her adoring fans this Saturday night, but the Kinahan saga and the looming battle with Cameron make this a fraught week. Eric Donovan, a close friend of Taylor’s since they were both on the Irish team in the late 1990s, says she is just Katie to him, his friend and great old sparring partner who gave him a few digs.
Kieran Cunningham, a Dublin journalist who has covered Taylor’s career for fifteen years, has made an absorbing and fascinating four-part podcast called Untouchable: How Katie Taylor Changed the World. He explains how Taylor is one of the main reasons why women’s boxing became part of the Olympics. In November 2007, Taylor and Canada’s Katie Dunn fought an exhibition to gauge whether women’s boxing was worthy of an Olympic slot. “Taylor fought out of her skin,” Cunningham says. “She won over the doubters, and women’s boxing was given a ticket to the five-ringed circus.”
Cunningham’s podcast is strong on Taylor’s cultural impact on a country that, for centuries, showed particular prejudice against women. Rosita Sweetman, a founding member of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement in 1972, recalls that Irish women were drowning in babies, and women’s rights to contraception, abortion, and divorce were shunned. Taylor’s pioneering role has been hugely important in overcoming these prejudices and changing attitudes towards women in Ireland.
As Taylor prepares for her homecoming, the nation will watch with bated breath. Fighting professionally in her home country for the first time is a dream come true for her, and despite the uncertainty surrounding her fight, she will undoubtedly be cheered on by her adoring fans. Katie Taylor is a true Irish hero, and as long as her career continues, she will continue to change the world for the better.
