There are farewells, and then there is the kind of night Katie Taylor put on at Croke Park on Saturday. Just three miles from the Dublin venue where she fought her first official bout a quarter-century ago, the Irish icon swept past France’s Flora Pili by unanimous decision, laid her belts on the canvas, and walked away as a three-time undisputed champion. It was one of those rare sporting send-offs that felt less like a fight and more like a coronation.
But the biggest boxing weekend of this young September was about more than one retirement. Across the Atlantic in Newark, Andy Ruiz’s comeback trip ran straight into a wall, as Poland’s rising heavyweight Damian Knyba outworked him over twelve rounds. And right there on the broadcast, Terence Crawford and Jaron “Boots” Ennis turned a slow night into the week’s loudest argument. Let’s break it all down.
A Fairytale End at Croke Park
Taylor, now 40, needed no judges’ favor to justify the occasion. Two official cards read 100-90 and the third 98-91, yet even those flattered Pili slightly — Taylor landed at will, opening up with flurries to the ropes down the stretch, a closing clinic of hand speed and footwork that looked every bit the work of a fighter at her peak, not one calling it a day.
The result moved her professional record to 26-1, her only loss a 2023 reverse to Chantelle Cameron. With the win she added the vacant WBC strap to close out the division, leaving the ring as the undisputed super-lightweight champion and a three-time undisputed world champion across her career.
Croke Park’s baying crowd of around 83,000 made it the first boxing show at the famous Dublin venue since Muhammad Ali fought Al “Blue” Lewis back in 1972. If you are Filipino like me, watching her set the gloves down and take the lap of honor hit close to home — it is the exact goodbye Pacquiao’s generation dreamed of but never quite got, the clean ending that so many legends chase.
Andy Ruiz Meets a Wall in Newark
However sweet Taylor’s ending was, Ruiz’s weekend was the opposite. The former heavyweight champion slipped to a unanimous-decision defeat against Damian Knyba at the Prudential Center, his third professional loss and a serious dent in a comeback that was supposed to re-announce him as a threat. The Polish underdog, now 18-1, controlled the pace, sidestepped the one-punch power that once floored Anthony Joshua, and banked rounds until the scorecards read 117-110, 114-113, and 114-113.
Knyba did not knock anyone out. He did not need to. He fought the way you beat a heavy-handed veteran with miles on the clock — smart, disciplined, never letting Ruiz plant his feet to let the hands go. It is the kind of performance that reminds you the heavyweight picture is a chessboard, not a highlight reel. The division has been in flux all month; Filip Hrgovic stunned Moses Itauma for the IBF heavyweight title last month, and the pieces are still settling.
Crawford and Ennis, Unplugged
If Ruiz’s night was quiet, the broadcast booth was anything but. Terence Crawford, retired since December and fresh off beating Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed super-middleweight crown, made a surprise appearance during the Ruiz-Knyba telecast and went straight at Jaron “Boots” Ennis. Crawford’s message was blunt: if Ennis wants proper respect, go beat WBC titleholder Sebastian Fundora and Vergil Ortiz Jr., not the middling opposition Crawford thinks he is collecting.
Ennis, the No. 1 junior middleweight who stopped Xander Zayas in seven to unify the WBA and WBO belts in June, brushed him off and repeated his favorite line — that fighting Crawford would be “easy work.” For now it is talk and not much else. Crawford seems content in retirement, and Ennis is focused on cleaning out 154. But those two names in the same conversation is never a bad sign for boxing.
What’s Next: Garcia vs Benn Leads a Loaded Sept. 12
With September 5 wrapped, boxing turns to a borderline blockbuster a week out. It has been a relentless run for the sport lately, from Teofimo Lopez becoming a three-division champion to Claressa Shields piling up more middleweight gold.
Ryan Garcia puts the WBC welterweight title on the line for the first time against Conor Benn at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, September 12. Garcia, 25-2, meets a hungry Benn, 25-1, still chasing his first world title. Jai Opetaia and Noel Mikaelian collide for cruiserweight gold in the co-main, and Jose Ramirez returns against Alexis Rocha.
Filipino Corner
The undercard carries a genuine Pinoy interest point: former champion Mark Magsayo, 29-2, steps in with unbeaten Andres Cortes, 25-0, in a lightweight scrap. Magsayo is a live underdog on any stage, and this is exactly the kind of fight that tells you where he sits in the division.
The bigger Filipino story, though, remains parked in the wings. Charly “King’s Warrior” Suarez, undefeated at 19-0, has the WBO’s mandatory rematch with super-featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete ordered, and his first-round stoppage of Manuel Avila back in July kept his name glued to the top of the list. There is still no locked-in date, but for Filipino fight fans it is the one fight we are all waiting on.
Saturday gave boxing a fairytale farewell and a heavyweight surprise in the same breath. Taylor rode off into the sunset on her own terms; Ruiz has to rebuild again. And a week from now, the sport turns to Las Vegas for a welterweight showdown that could write the next chapter. I would not miss it.