“Did ya enjoy that?” Katie Taylor savours a perfect ending

“Did ya enjoy that, did ya?” Katie Taylor asked after turning the final 10 seconds of her last fight into a furious blur of swinging arms.

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Did ya enjoy that, did ya?

The fight had been drifting toward an expected Taylor victory after two subdued final rounds. But as the clock ran down on a career that has spanned more than two decades, Taylor suddenly changed pace and threw everything into one last attack. Her opponent looked startled, but stayed upright until the bell.

The two fighters embraced immediately. Taylor then looked skyward, aware that the closing bell had brought a full stop to her career. “I wanted to leave it all in the ring. I have no regrets looking back on my whole career,” she said.

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I wanted to leave it all in the ring. I have no regrets looking back on my whole career.

Taylor arrived at the post-fight press conference with her team to applause shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday. With no worlds left to conquer in the ring, she said she was ready to retire and relax. Eddie Hearn joked that she appeared to be finding her voice as a press-conference performer just as she no longer needed to attend them professionally.

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I just let my excellence do my talking.

Taylor said she had never liked controversy, the limelight or being the centre of attention. Boxing, she added, could be a dark world, and she had never wanted to rely on trash talk. “I just let my excellence do my talking,” she said. She believed that approach helped open doors for women's boxing when the sport was not accepted during her teenage years. Croke Park, transformed into a boxing venue for the first time since 1972, provided the setting for the final chapter.

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I've always felt that was the best way to open doors for women's boxing when women's boxing wasn't accepted when I was a teenager.