As Katie Taylor prepares to retire on Saturday following her fight at Croke Park, Deirdre Gogarty — Ireland's first female world boxing champion and Taylor's childhood hero — has written a public reply to a letter Taylor sent her in 1996. At the time, women's boxing was banned in Ireland and Taylor, then a teenager, wrote to Gogarty expressing doubt that women's boxing would ever take off there, while hoping it might one day reach the Olympics. Gogarty's response reflects on how dramatically things have changed, crediting Taylor with transforming the sport far beyond her own titles and medals.

Gogarty, who won 16 of her 23 professional fights, became WIBF featherweight world champion in January 1997 by beating Bonnie Canino, at a time when female boxers struggled for recognition, fights and spectators. Taylor's original 1996 letter, also published, described her limited opportunities to compete and her hope of entering competitions in Sweden and England. Gogarty's reply notes that tens of thousands are now expected at Croke Park to watch Taylor box, a stark contrast to the near-empty venues of her own era, and says she will think of the generations of women who "fought when nobody was watching" as she watches Taylor's final fight.