Katie Taylor will fight for the final time on Saturday night in a bid to become an undisputed world champion for a third time
Katie Taylor competes for the final time on Saturday night in what promises to be a landmark moment for boxing, Irish sport and the nation. The Bray fighter takes on French opponent Flora Pili with the chance to claim undisputed world champion status for a third occasion.
The contest will mark the conclusion of Taylor’s remarkable career before a crowd exceeding 80,000 spectators. Despite her enormous popularity, the 40 year old keeps a low profile outside the ring.
She wed American real estate broker Sean McCavanagh last year. Taylor publicly acknowledged their relationship in September 2025 during a visit to a rehabilitation centre in her home county of Wicklow, reports the Irish Mirror.
Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter
Speaking about married life with Taylor, McCavanagh told the Sunday World: “It’s the best ever, she’s the best!”. On his trip to Ireland, he commented: “How could you not? I loved my time in Ireland.”
Taylor has taken on a stepmother role to five children, with her husband being father to two boys and three girls. Sean’s previous wife, Alicia – who was mother to his five children – passed away in October 2023 at only 43.
The Bray legend attended the same church as Sean, Alicia and their youngsters, and previously joined the family on a Boston trip years ago, where they attended a baseball game. Sean and Alicia were also in attendance at Taylor’s fights in 2017, along with other relatives.
Taylor relocated to Vernon, Connecticut, in September 2016, a modest town approximately 150km from Boston. It is likely that she first came to know estate agent Sean, Alicia and their family through her local Pentecostal Church.
The church’s website states that it “began as a small Bible Study in Rockville, CT in 1985 after the Lord called Pastor Ramond ‘Flick’ Grezel and his wife Susan to ministry here.
“With much prayer and going door to door, the community quickly responded to Flick’s teaching in God’s word and many people were saved. Today the Church continues to focus on reaching people in the community who are outside the typical church circles.”
Alongside her Connecticut family, Taylor has also rebuilt her relationship with her father Pete in recent years. Pete had stood by his daughter throughout her amateur career, guiding her to Olympic gold at London 2012.
However, Katie removed her father from her coaching team ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics following a family falling-out. Pete disclosed on James English’s podcast ‘Anything Goes’: “I split with Katie’s ma two years, maybe a year after the Olympics.
“Katie’s really into her faith as well and I just remember Katie coming down to the boxing club and she says, ‘I just don’t want you in the corner, you and ma are not together’.
“I’m married now to Karen, and Karen’s the same age as Katie and everybody was saying Pete’s turned around for Katie’s best friend, but they didn’t even know each other.
“In social media and in the papers it was, ‘Katie Taylor’s best friend’. For me it’s an insult, it sounds like ‘Katie’s been best friends with this girl since her childhood, you’ve bleedin’ groomed her’. But she didn’t know her, but that grows legs then. Just rumours and rumours and rumours.
“She has such morals, she has such faith and thinks that when you’re married you should be together for life. It killed me now, but I had to respect it because she did a documentary after and said, ‘when I went training it was like I was fighting with only one hand because my da wasn’t there’. She knew what the consequences would be, she lost in the Olympics in 2016 in Rio.”
Pete disclosed it was a challenging time and implied the Irish press had portrayed him negatively.
“We weren’t really speaking,” he remembered about his relationship with Katie during the Rio Games. “It was tough for both of us but that’s life.
“Because we were always together it was a big thing in the newspapers, you’d think I was the only person who ever split up a marriage and when Katie got beaten I was painted as the villain. It made me a pure villain in Ireland but that’s life, they used to make up stories about me on a bad news day. It was tough at the time.”
He also reflected on the immense pressure experienced in the lead-up to and during the competitions at the London 2012 Olympics. “She’s not lost in 17 major competitions or something, and if we silver medal it would have been a disappointment for everybody in Ireland, and Ireland was going through a bad time,” he recalled.
“There was the financial crash in Ireland and everybody was depressed and I felt the hopes of Ireland were on the shoulders of the two of us. And there’s banners all over Dublin saying Katie Taylor, gold medal London, she’ll win a gold medal. Jesus, some pressure it was.
“It was not enjoyable. The Olympics was not one bit enjoyable – it was just pressure. You know, even after Katie won the goal, for me, it was just relief.”
Nevertheless, Katie and her father have since reconciled their relationship, with Pete supporting his daughter’s training camp ahead of numerous recent major contests.
In an Instagram post, Pete wrote: “Training hard for Croke Park… and it’s bringing me right back to the road to the Olympic Games.
“Same early mornings. Same obsession with getting better. Same belief that one moment can change everything. Funny how life comes full circle.”
The boxer maintains a close relationship with her mother Bridget and siblings – brothers Pete and Lee, along with sister Sarah. Bridget became Ireland’s first female boxing judge and has attended each of her daughter’s professional fights.
“I come from a long line of strong women,” Katie has said. “My mother is a powerhouse. She is a true Proverbs 31 kind of woman and the most amazing example for me. She’s the greatest.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login