UNDISPUTED LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION Katie Taylor has been named Ring Magazine Women’s Fighter of the Year for 2019.
The 33-year-old Bray woman accrued new world titles in each of her three outings last year, ridding Rose Volante of the WBO World lightweight title in March, winning the WBC and Ring Magazine equivalents as she edged out Delfine Persoon to officially become the unequivocal 135-pound queen in June, and becoming a two-weight world champion when she claimed Christina Linardatou’s WBO 140-pound belt in November.
Taylor’s 10-round war with Belgium’s Persoon, which she edged by controversial majority decision at Madison Square Garden, was considered to be one of the greatest-ever fights in women’s professional boxing and was fittingly named Women’s Fight of the Year by the same publication.
The ‘Bible of Boxing’’s annual awards are considered to be among the most prestigious in the sport, and Taylor becomes the third woman to be crowned by The Ring since they introduced female categories in 2017. ‘First Lady of Boxing’ Cecilia Braekhus — the undisputed welterweight champ who is both a stablemate and prospective opponent of Taylor’s — and American trailblazer Claressa Shields were named Female Fighter of the Year for 2017 and 2018 respectively.
Before Christmas, Taylor was also recognised as the outstanding female pugilist of 2019 by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), whose separate awards are also coveted by fighters worldwide.
