Katie Taylor awarded honorary degree by Trinity College Dublin
By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association
Boxer Katie Taylor has been awarded an honorary law degree by Trinity College Dublin.
The university described the Bray native as “one of the most important ever figures in the history of women’s sport”.
Taylor, 39, received the honorary degree at a Commencements Ceremony in the Public Theatre of Trinity on Friday.
She was among Irish musician Sharon Shannon, writer Colm Tóibín, barrister Helena Kennedy, and human rights activist Helen Prejean to be awarded with honorary degrees.
Trinity College said Taylor could lay claim to be “Ireland’s greatest ever sporting champion” and said her battles in the ring have “helped propel women’s boxing to new heights of popularity and respect”.
She won five consecutive gold medals at the Women’s World Championships, six at the European Championships and five at the European Union Championships, as well as gold at the Summer Olympic Games in 2012.
Since her professional career in 2016, she became WBA lightweight champion in July 2017, IBF lightweight champion in 2018 and WBO and WBC lightweight champion in 2019, becoming the undisputed world lightweight champion.
In 2019 she won the WBO super-lightweight belt to become a two-weight world champion.
Her first of the famed trilogy fights against American fighter Amanda Serrano was the first women’s bout to headline at Madison Square Garden in New York, and the second was watched by more than 74 million viewers, making it the most watched female sporting event in history.
On September 5th, Taylor is to end her professional boxing career with a sold-out fighting spectacle against 28-year-old Frenchwoman Flora Pili in Dublin’s famous Croke Park stadium, which has capacity of more than 80,000.
Taylor said she is excited to fight at the “iconic” Dublin stadium where she also has the chance to finish her career with all boxing titles back in in her grasp.
Trinity College Dublin said: “She has played a formative role in enhancing women’s sport and especially women’s boxing both in Ireland and around the world.
“She is widely recognised as being responsible for the introduction of women’s boxing as an Olympic sport at the London 2012 games before then going on to transform the perception of female professional boxing.
“In this regard, Katie Taylor stands as a beacon for women’s sport in Ireland and throughout the world, and because of what she has done for women’s boxing specifically and women’s sport generally, she will go down in history as one of the most important women athletes of all time.”