The Ariel Helwani Show - Instant reaction to Katie Taylor’s win and retirement at Croke Park | The Craic

Episode Date: September 5, 2026

In a special post-fight reaction show, Petesy Carroll reacts to Katie Taylor's retirement fight win over Flora Pili at Croke Park. 

Welcome to a special edition of the crack. I am Pizzie Carroll and I have just watched Ireland's greatest ever athlete. Eddie Hearn just said that and I kind of agree with him. I just saw her place her gloves in the middle of the ring at Crow Park with all her belts and the tricolour and she has been given one of the greatest farewells I have ever seen in the history of sports. I was struck by Taylor walking in tonight, this tiny speck in the grand scheme of things of.

in Crow Park, 80,000 people. And this tiny-looking person emerges from the bloody Sunday, which was an atrocity that was carried out in Crow Park in the 1920s. She comes out at the same entrance that a British forces entered Crow Park

that day before they opened fire on people. But she's this picture of triumph walking out. This tiny person and 80,000 people just sharing her with love, adoration. and honestly I've never seen an event like this it was an absolute celebration it was an event

she boxed fantastically in the fight I didn't really think there was any jeopardy at some stages it felt as though we were all just here to cheer her on one last time and appreciate her for everything that she's given us countless championships and just being the picture of professional

her whole career. As I said, this is an event like no other. Since I got off the train in Drumcondra, about a 10-minute walk from where I picked up my media credential, there are children everywhere. There are families. It's like a festival out there. Everyone just here to appreciate.

What was crazy was, I was speaking about Taylor's entrance, they played Aaron Levine, the National Anthem, just before Peeley walks out. and the whole crowd is singing now Ron Levine in unison and then a picture of like just when I did I think the crowd can't get any louder a picture of Katie Taylor pops up on the screen and the place just erupts as soon as that finishes Peely a person who was never like I think she's fought

once outside of France in Luxembourg she has to walk out down to this crowd this French music starts playing and the whole crowd is just booing her and shouting Katie and things like this and you're just imagining like like what female boxer what boxer has actually experienced this very few and then who has even even if they have experienced a stadium show like many heavyweights have and different people have and Chris Eubank and Connor Ben and these guys have how many have just 80,000 people behind them she was coming out to some rap song in French I didn't hear a word of it it might have been any language couldn't hear a bit of it because it was completely drowned out by Katie Taylor fans just just roaring then she comes out to a song

which we googled called all hail Jesus by bethel music nobody in the crowd has a clue it is she is being uniquely Taylor right till the end but the ovation was just absolutely tremendous it was like nothing i'd ever seen i'm going to say that a lot i'm sorry i'm sorry for that guys but um yeah the fight itself it felt like one way traffic As I said earlier, it didn't feel like there was any jeopardy. And this was kind of punctuated by the fact that after every round, Coke Park just turned into a nightclub. 80,000 people just dancing.

You know, they were playing the hits, the Venga Boys, the Venga Buses come. This is in between rounds. It was just, it turned into a complete nightclub for like one minute, and they'd stop and then they'd get back into it. Throughout the fight, you're getting the usuals. Olae, Ola, O'A, O'A. There's only one Katie Taylor. And then just, Katie, Katie, Katie.

but um it lasted from her entrance up 10 o'clock i'd say you know 40 minutes in total and then we give way to this amazing speech by katie it feels like she went through everyone she needed to thank and took the time to thank everyone even though her father wasn't in there she went out of her way to thank him for that early training for turning him into a fighter she was immediately embraced by our mother Bridget, she was immediately embraced by Brian Peters, our manager, and Ross Ename, who has trained her in the pro

ranks since day one, as far as I know. And then Eddie Hearn came in later. And look, people will say promoters can be guilty of hyperbole in the moment. But really, I think he just hit the nail on the head. Like, you can't tell me, after me being in here, that she is not the most adored athlete in Irish

history. You cannot tell me that. I've never seen people react to someone like this in such a vast number. It's absolutely incredible. She spoke for so long afterwards. And I was thinking, like, it must be the longest unbroken pattern of speech she's ever had. And it was amazing how good she was at it. And of course everyone will say, well, look, she's been in the public eye since she's about 15. But we never see her like that.

It was like this great relief just came over. her like it's over now i can let my guard down her husband in there with him a big uh public display of affection which we wouldn't really see from katie but it just felt like such a weight was just automatically lifted off her shoulders it was funny um i was sitting beside mikey stafford the edge the sports editor of r t e very big deal you know that's who i'm rubbing shoulders with but um just as the fight ended they started playing celebration by cooling the gang i think at least i think it's by killing the gan over the speakers and he's like you know they're hard to be playing that if she lost i was like yeah that is a that is a fair fair point um just an incredible scene

and i feel so grateful to have been here for this i kind of parachute in from m m mary every now and again but really i've seen some tremendous moments in katie's career i can remember seeing her very early in our pro days she'd already been obviously the Olympic champion, multiple time amateur world champion, European champion, everything else. She was already an icon in Ireland. And I was invited up to watch her spar. I think it was before our first or second pro fight. And I was in this tiny little gym in Rat Hout, which is about a 45-minute drive outside of Dublin. And then afterwards we went to this county club, which Brian Peters owned, I believe, at the time. And, you know, she was talking about being the Ronda Rousey

equivalent in boxing. And to see that tonight, you're like, well, holy shit, Katie. You did it and so much more. I doubt we'll ever see someone have a crowd like this for a retirement fight in Ireland ever. I doubt we'll ever

see another event in Crow Park like this. Muhammad Ali and Katie Taylor. That's who did it. And my God, it was absolutely sensational. I'm going to go and try and find someone to speak to now, someone who knows a bit more about boxing that can maybe colour this piece a bit better,

and then I'm going to be back to you. Oscar Losef is waiting for this. I mean, there's no second runs at this. I'm just doing this very quickly in a little media room I found, a little space to myself in the Hogan stand. Honestly, all of the journalists are like filing the reports and stuff. I don't even know if any of them will talk to me.

Wish me look. Hopefully I'll be back soon with a person who knows more about boxing than I do. Which one is. I just mentioned this man and his little quib about celebration by Kulam the gang in the aftermath of this fight but I'm honored to be joined by

head of online sport for RTE. Mikey Stafford, Mikey. Tell me, it's very hard to sum up Katie Taylor today but as Eddie Hearn was standing in the ring at the end it's very rare that I'm like yeah this is absolutely all of this is true what he's saying this might be the greatest athlete we've ever seen I doubt we'll ever see this kind of event take place in crowback with 80,000 people there like I know it's impossible to do but can you try and sum up for me what you've taken from this event in terms of what katie taylor means to Ireland it's uncomfortable to find myself possibly agreeing with

eddie harn a man who will never say one word when he can say a hundred And he's been saying this shtick for a long time. But yeah, he might be right, because this wasn't the greatest Irish sporting occasion of all time. This was, you know, this was an opponent who was selected to be game, but was never going to win. As you say, Kooling the Gang Celebrate played out before the judges had even finished filling in their scorecards. But it was an occasion. And I've been to Croke Park many, many times, usually for GA matches, by being here for other sporting occasions. as well. I think there were three roars during that fight which rank up there with

anything like Dublin ending their long drought and beating Kerry in the last decade. The stadium shook that night but the end of the anthems and halfway through Katie Taylor's ring walk and then the decision. I don't know if I've heard a roar like that and it says a lot because it's a very disparate crowd here. It's a very interesting crowd here. There's families with young kids. There's the lads in tight trousers who you normally see at boxing events. There's...

You're talking about me? No, no, they're fine, Petsy there. I can't see anything I shouldn't be able to see. You know, you've got middle-aged men. You've got women glammed up who've probably gone out for a night out after now. You've got GA fans. You've got lads in rugby jerseys, people in Celtic jerseys. It's everything.

and that's, Katie Taylor really did mean that much to everybody. And in a strange way, in a way it doesn't have anything to do with sport and another way it has everything to do with sport. People don't analyze Katie Taylor fights the way they might analyze, say, a Michael Conlon fight, for instance. Her fans are not boxing fans. They're kind of, they're kind of come-and-go sports fans,

and that's not an insult. I rely on them. They boost our traffic. They're kind of, you know, but they are passionate about Katie Taylor, but they're not passionate about boxing, but they're passionate about Katie Taylor. Katie Taylor has done more for boxing than it's possible to say. But then the flip side of that is, will boxing continue to be popular in a Katie Taylor vacuum? That's another question.

Yeah, I mean, you're dead right. And in terms of, like, this event, it was very unique for me from a combat sports world. Seeing an event where, like, Westliffe, so say our American viewers won't understand, like Westlife are a boy band. and as you say you're not used to a boy band kind of coming out and playing before Katie Taylor arrives

even today I got off the train station Drum Condra it was like a festival you know like a completely different atmosphere can you ever imagine like

obviously this this stadium is used for primarily Gaelic games hurling Gaelic football it's been used for rugby and soccer in the past can you ever imagine

a groundswell within the Irish public to like command something like that. Because that's what it felt like it was. They were literally demanding the GA and Eddie Hearn somehow sort this out. Is there anyone else you can even think of that might be able to do something like that? No, there's no

individual sportsperson out there right now. Irish sportsperson out there who could do it because individual sports we excel at are things, you know, we have some good athletes, you know, we have some good swimmers, stuff like that. But combat sports and boxing particularly are kind of where we have

made our name. But other than that, it's team sports and the only team who can unite the country the way that Katie Taylor's united the country is the Irish soccer team unfortunately the Irish soccer team aren't as good as they used to be the Irish rugby team are really good

but rugby isn't that kind of sport that gets that groundswell of support Gaelic Games is tribal so one county will not root for you know you're not going to get 32 counties rooting for one county and we just don't excel at other sports so no there's nobody on the horizon

unless the Irish soccer team really get their act together, but they have their own stadium, so they're not going to need Croke Park. But they're the only team I can think of who can kind of unite the country and kind of just make everyone feel as good about themselves as Katie Taylor seems to make people feel. It's tremendous, and I love seeing her in there, whatever.

And she's still in there now. As we're speaking, we're sitting in the Hoganstand, looking down at the ring where they're doing a kind of a photo shoot, I guess you call it, with all of the belts, with Katie and all of her team, everyone else there was some interesting moments Mike you know I was sitting beside you all night when the brutality of boxing just kind of hurtled through and you're kind of like this people probably weren't expecting this like there was Emmett Brennan and there was Thomas Cardi

in that bizarre moment where he just went out to the ring there's a massive cut that Tyrone McKenna suffered to his face that was interesting right to see these kind of two worlds collide but the fans didn't seem to put off it the crowd didn't seem like oh well this is this is too brutal for me, we need to get out of here. No, absolutely not. I was just worried about Westlife and their white suits. They could have got blood on him. Yeah, no, I think it was that kind of mix of a crowd,

because I think all the kids who came here, they've watched Katie Taylor's fights before, and Katie Taylor's fights, especially against Amanda Serrano and Chantel Cameron, they were barnburners. There was blood everywhere in those fights about, so I think Katie Taylor fans, even the young ones, realize that boxing can be a brutal game, even if Katie's not exactly a knockout artist.

the women's boxing two-minute rounds kind of don't lend themselves to quite the same brutality as the men's, although it wasn't the length of the fights on the undercard because they were, like the character was bizarrely short. That was some of the strangest things I've ever seen in a boxing ring. But there was enough boxing aficionados here, I would think,

and then there was enough people who were probably used to watching rugby, Gaelic football, soccer, where you do have those moments of, you might describe it as violence, but aggression. But yeah, you're right, because it really it just felt like such a weird blend

of family event and still a professional boxing event which brings a certain crowd to it like there was talk yesterday which never came to pass

that some of the pubs around Dublin would not open and I heard that and I actually made a point of doing a lap and I checked and Gills

the Red Parrot Quinn's they're all open all these famous pubs that make an absolute fortune by being open

for big events and grow back they would have been mad not to open the off licenses were open liquor stores in the common America so there's this thought

that we're going to get a bad element here and like I don't think anybody was there just wasn't that kind of bad blood kind of feeling to this this was never going to be the kind of boxing event

where it kicked off between people and the crowd because everyone was here to see one person like okay now the other boxers had family and stuff here but like 99.9% of the people here came to see one boxer and they were here to support one boxer

who they expected to win and that was it Yeah, yeah. One last one for you, Mike. I know you're a busy man here. But is it fair to say, like, this is the greatest athlete Ireland has ever produced? Like, is that a defensible statement to make? I know a lot of people will get in debates, but, you know, Rory McElroy, Roy King, so many great athletes, right? But is it, like, a fair statement to make based on what she's done in her career, so many titles, European world, and just kind of being the trailblazer, like breaking through that door,

with the IOC in 2012 winning a gold medal. Is that a defensible comment to make? It absolutely is. If you just look at the impact she's had on her sport, as you said, she pretty much willed women's Olympic boxing into being

by herself. Everybody knows the stories that she used to box as Kay Taylor, a boy from Bray and hide her hair and everything else when she was starting out. And then to get over the disappointment of how her amateur career ended in the first round

at the Olympics in Rio and to kind of just she willed Olympic boxing into being she's pretty much willed like top level women's professional boxing into being as well not on her own but through like you know the rivalry she sparked primarily Amanda

Serrano is the one that really kind of stands out you know like headlining Madison Square Garden that's just huge so yeah people will quibble that you know say well you know some of the people she thought were you know they weren't you know as boxers they wouldn't stand toe to toe with say the golfers that roy mackroy has beaten on the pGA tour that's not fair you know there's a great expression in our sport you can only beat what's in front of you

and katie taylor has done that to a woman including you know her revenge fight against chantelle cameron so people can quibble and say well women's boxing is this women's boxing is that women's boxing is katea taylor to a great extent and yes so for that reason you can absolutely make the argument she's the greatest sports person of all the time. Mikey, thank you so much, mate. It's an absolute pleasure. Good, mate.

Well, there he was. Mikey Stafford, a man who knows a lot about sport, a man who has covered all kinds of sport, great to be able to pick his brain, a man who's given me lots of opportunities over the years at RTE, when a lot of people had no interest in covering

MMA or anything like that, so I really, really appreciated speaking to him. I was beside him for the whole event, and it was very enjoyable experience, as you can probably tell from our conversation. As I was coming out there to speak to Mikey to see if he was still about to do the interview, it was very funny to watch the non-combat sports media kind of just standing there, marvelling at Eddie Heron as he did his media work afterwards. It is quite incredible. You know, he just lines up there along the apron and

he speaks to everyone with a camera and a phone. I was up in the Hogan, as I said, so I did not get to get a word with him. But yeah, I mean, as I said to Mikey, there was some strange moments there where it was like this event again, not really your typical boxing crowd, and then it goes suddenly south. You know, like, there was a moment there, Emmett Brennan, before he was stopped, there was a moment in the corner where, you know, Emmett grew up 500 meters from here. This meant a lot to him. He was a big underdog in this card. And you could kind of see him. him willing his corner to let him go back out and then as boxing can do as combat sports can do you get this brutal climax to his fight where he's first dropped with a body shot i think and then

put down again i had a bad vantage point obviously up here we're watching the fights as they happen with the naked eye so i might have to go back and watch some replays of that to to get the full extent of what happened but you know there was that moment there was the moment with carty which absolutely bizarre like that was the fight between carty and alan Dave allen Thomas Carty was really like one that a lot of people were looking forward to, a real barn burner. And then such a bizarre situation happens. Like, Cardi kind of opens up with this massive flurry. He's trying to put it on Alan.

Alan backs up against the ropes. Alan seems to hit him in the back of the head. Unintentional, I'd imagine. As Cardi's bearing forward, then Cardi just launches out of the ring. And you're like, holy shit, man, Thomas Carty, has had these two moments, one in MSG and now this one in Crowe Park, where they could be life-changing moments

and just everything goes wrong from. And, you know, you feel so sorry for a guy who, you know, obviously, you know, this means a lot to him. Boxing is his thing and two opportunities go over the waistline like that against Alan a big name. Kind of crazy, and you also had the Paddy Donovan fight.

Patty Donovan really well supported here from Limerick taken on Tyroneau McKenna. And McKenna just gets, this massive cut over his eye and the fight has stopped because of it but you're like this crowd like did they imagine to be face to face with the brutality of the sport

like it certainly wasn't a crowd that's used to it but um it all worked strangely enough it all worked and I'm just so glad that I was here to see it all what a night in Crow Park but we will never see anything like this again as far as I'm concerned I imagine it's going to be quite busy

out there getting a taxi. Katie only left the ring a few minutes ago, so I'm sure she has to do some press backstage before she hits the press conference, but I think I'm going to get the hell out of Dodge before then. But yeah, what an incredible week.

I doubt I'll ever cover an event like this. I know I've said that about 15 times on this show already. But what a miraculous career, what a miraculous athlete. Yeah, Katie Taylor. Farewell. one of the greatest

Irish athletes of all time one of the biggest trailblazers we'll ever see there will be no replacing Katie Taylor one of a kind will never see her like again and for me from Pro Park this special edition of the crack

comes to an end thank you to Oscar Losa for his wonderful production thank you to Ariel Hwani for directing me to do this I am about to get kicked out of this room so that will have to be all for tonight. Lots of love, my friends. Mwha.