Every achievement added to her already incredible resume continues to far exceed the journey that Katie Taylor expected to travel as a boxer.

The Irish superstar took up the sport at a time when women in pro boxing were considered more novelty acts than were met with any level of respect. Taylor (19-0, 6KOs) helped break new ground, first with her role in women’s boxing being featured in the Summer Olympics beginning with the 2012 London Games. Two Olympic tours later, the fighting pride of Bray, Ireland took her talents to the pro ranks where she ushered in a new era of female athletes in the sport finally coming close to earning the pay befitting their talent level and entertainment value.

“I don’t think so, to be quite honest with you,” Taylor told BoxingScene.com of ever envisioning her career turning out the way it has. “These last few years have been the most exciting of my entire career. I obviously started boxing as a 10, 11 year old and dreamed of becoming an Olympian. I didn’t dream seriously at the time of becoming a professional boxer. I certainly didn’t envision fighting on the biggest stages and in packed arenas.

“Even looking at the progress of women’s boxing in the past few years has been incredible. There’s such a huge appetite for female boxing, you’re seeing it on so many big cards. Some of the biggest names in the sport are female fighters. I don’t think when I turned pro five years ago that I could have dreamt of this ever happening. It’s quite awesome. I feel blessed to be in this position.”

Taylor wraps up an active 2021 campaign with her third fight of the year. It comes against Kazakhstan’s Firuza Sharipova (14-1, 8KOS) as part of a DAZN show airing live from M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England. Taylor attempts her fifth defense as undisputed lightweight champion and already her 12th defense of at least one lightweight belt.

The incredible run began less than a year into her pro career, when Taylor—who won a Gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics—won the WBA lightweight belt in an October 2017 ten-round, unanimous decision win over Anahi Sanchez. Taylor went on to earn her undisputed championship reign the hard way, defeating three reigning titlists capped by a hard-fought majority win over long-reigning WBC champ Delfine Persoon in June 2019.

Taylor went on to become a two-division titlist, outpointing Christina Linardatou to win the WBO junior welterweight belt in front of a rabid crowd at Manchester Arena (now AO Arena) in Manchester, England. The November 2019 event was her last before the pandemic, though now entering her fifth fight on the other side of the global health crisis.

The desire to remain as active as possible while continuing to enhance her career credentials is not just Taylor doing her part to lead the charge for women’s boxing; it’s also a tribute to those who blazed a trail for her to follow.

“I definitely feel that it’s great to be in the position that I am in,” notes Taylor. “It’s an honor to have helped break down these barriers along the way. I’m also eternally grateful for the female fighters that went before me as well. There are fighters like Christy Martin, Deirdre Gogarty, Lucia Rijker, Laila Ali who were pioneers of the sport as well.

“None of us today would be in the position we’re in if it weren’t for those fighters.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox