Taylor cements status as Ireland's most important boxer

On the greatest sporting moments of Katie Taylor's life, the undisputed lightweight champion also landed the biggest achievement of her highly decorated career.

A remarkable suggestion considering the success that has followed the Irish superstar throughout her illustrious history, from becoming a world amateur champion, to convincing the IOC to allow women’s boxing at the Olympics, and on to securing the gold medal at the London 2012 Games.

And that was just the amateurs.

The inimitable athlete turned to the paid ranks of the sport in 2016 and proceeded to dominate the lightweight division, while also continuing the crusade to see women’s boxing reach some sort of recognition in relation to the male-dominated sport.

Moments before Katie made that slow methodical march to the ring at Madison Square Garden, for the most historic night in New York, where women’s boxing headlined the storied venue for the first time in its 140-year history, the big screen displayed a message that Taylor had written to promoter Eddie Hearn, asking him to take a chance and join her on the journey.

Hearn has been telling this particular yarn for a good few years – and like all great stories, it gets better and better the more times it’s told, even without embellishment.

But this time the boxing promoter, who is also at the top of his game right now, knew that it was not just the boxing world who were watching, but the entire global sporting community.

Some have heard this story several times before, but many were not actually listening, most notably the promoters and television networks who decided to put the Shakur Stevenson versus Oscar Valdez fight up against the New York showdown.

That particular unified world super featherweight bout would have