Katie Taylor will put her four world lightweight titles on the line this Saturday when she fights Argentina’s Karen Elizabeth Carabajal at Wembley Arena.
The Bray boxer has been one of Ireland’s top sportspeople for more than 15 years, first as a dominant amateur, winning five world championships and Olympic gold at London 2012, before turning professional and becoming undisputed lightweight champion in 2019.
In a sport of big personalities and rampant self-promotion, Taylor is known to be devoutly religious and a quiet professional who has foregone wider commercial opportunities presented by her success to focus on her ringcraft – and potential prizemoney.
Taylor and challenger Amanda Serrano each earned in excess of $1m for their fight in April, according to Serrano’s promoter Jake Paul, and Taylor is believed to have earned close to $2m in all from the fight.
The Madison Square Garden event was reportedly the fourth time Taylor has earned seven figures for a fight following her rematch against Delfine Persoon, and fights against Miriam Guitérrez and Natasha Jonas over the past couple of years.
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Boxing Scene reported that the Serrano fight generated more than $1.4m in ticket sales in what was the biggest live gate for a boxing event at MSG since Covid-19.
The fight was viewed by 6m people on DAZN, the sports streaming service with which Taylor’s promotor, Matchroom Boxing, signed an exclusive, five-year deal believed to be worth $142m in 2021. DAZN sold 1.6m subscriptions for the Serrano fight, showing interest in the Irish fighter is only growing.
John Trainor, founder and CEO of sports sponsorship consultancy Onside, says that Taylor has ranked as the most respected Irish sportsperson among the general public for the past five years.
However, among potential sponsors, she ranks second, having been surpassed by fellow Olympic champion boxer Kellie Harrington in the past year as she has elected against cultivating the brand ambassadorships available to her.
She previously promoted the likes of Toyota, KPMG, Bank of Ireland FX, Aramark Ireland, Its4Women.ie, Windsor Motor Group, and Adidas, and her father and former trainer, Pete Taylor, used to manage her financial affairs.
In Trainor’s estimation, the 36-year-old has chosen to forego a number of “low six-figure annual deals” from two or three Irish brands, which would have put her on the same level as successful rugby players such as Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell.
In opting to push her own KT sportswear brand instead of staying with Adidas or signing with another global player, she has done similarly, and Trainor believes that she has left somewhere in the region of €250,000 per year on the table – and possibly “multiples of that” if she had agreed brand ambassadorships for the UK & Ireland or globally.
“I would say she has elected not to use sponsorship as a revenue stream in her current phase. If you visit her website, there’s no visible brand in any shape or form,” Trainor says, whereas Harrington has generated deals with FBD, Spar and the National Dairy Council since Tokyo.
“Kellie would clearly be generating a better result for a sponsorship perspective, but Katie is ultimately concentrating on her revenue generation through prize money, and the funds that she can generate through competition.
“It feels like that and a little bit of revenue through merchandise, again sold through her platform and website – she does have a shop, and within the shop, it's possible for you to buy her clothing line or memorabilia.
“And again, that obviously generates a level of income that, again, probably is marginal relative to prize money.”
Taylor’s company, KT Sports Ltd, reported assets of just over €1.7m in June 2021. The principal activity of the company is described as that of promotion and advertising of professional sports and retailing of Katie Taylor apparel online.
As of last June, KT Sports Ltd held investment properties worth €754,000 and current assets of €946,000, including €10,000 finished goods and stock for resale, money owed by trade and other debtors of €192,000, and cash and equivalents of €743,000.
Taylor and her sister Sarah Taylor are counted as directors, and their remuneration rose from €48,000 to €52,000 last year, although the company recorded a loss of €37,724 in 2021 and €46,392 in 2020 before years of consistent profits.
Trainor says Taylor’s outreach to sponsors is limited despite the fact that “she has the public’s strongest attention and support” and the fact that Taylor fights overseas as a result of the de facto ban on professional boxing in Ireland since the Regency Hotel attack has turned her away from the Irish market.
Taylor this week reiterated her desire to fight at Croke Park, but such is her level of admiration and familiarity in Ireland, fighting on home soil would be unlikely to stimulate further commercial activity for her.
Trainor says she is “close to the ceiling already” – two-thirds of the county would recognise her – and her visibility is as strong as possible, but he states that the level of public trust in Taylor could grow if she endorsed a brand.
In the UK, the US and the wider world, Taylor’s profile is not on the level of a Conor McGregor, although women’s boxing is still at a relatively early stage of its evolution from a global branding perspective.
However, Trainor highlights some international research that shows Taylor is the 47th most marketable athlete, behind Novak Djokovic and just ahead of Rory McIlroy and Premier League footballers Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford.
