Katie Taylor celebrates her historic win in a rematch with Chantelle Cameron
On Thursday night, and for much of Friday and Saturday, Dublin locals were holed up inside their homes as riots raged on the streets of the Irish capital. One viral image showed a bus ablaze, and for a few days it felt like the very soul of the city was burning, too. But on Saturday night, locals instead holed up inside the 3Arena, a haven from the hellish developments of the week. This was the only orchestrated violence that anyone who cares about Dublin needed to see: Katie Taylor, a pioneer of women’s boxing, transcending sport again.
Ask any Dublin native about this week’s violent protests, which followed the stabbing of five people – including three children – on Thursday, and they would tell you how shocking the instigating incident and ensuing riots were. Some would acknowledge bubbling tensions over immigration policies in recent years, augmented by lingering frustrations over Covid lockdowns – especially among younger, unemployed locals. Even so: What transpired in Dublin was alien to the city’s citizens. The attack was tragic, the riots were shameful.
What a relief, then, for the city to be united in shock of a different hue – shock at how Taylor could give even more to boxing, and to Ireland, when it seemed she had surely given everything she had. Six months on from suffering the first loss of her professional career, 37-year-old Taylor defied the odds, her age, and Chantelle Cameron’s size and skill to gain vengeance and more undisputed gold.
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