Katie Taylor: East Side Boxing’s 2018 Female Fighter Of The Year!

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FIGHTER OF THE YEAR, FEMALE (2018)

WINNER:🏆 Katie Taylor

Although cogent cases can be made for Cecilia Brækhus (35-0, 9 KOs) and Claressa Shields (8-0, 2 KOs), undefeated and unified WBA and IBF World Lightweight Champion Katie Taylor (12-0, 5 KOs) is our pick for 2018 FEMALE Fighter of the Year.

For starters, Taylor—who captured her first world title in just her seventh pro fight—was an active champion in 2018, fighting nearly every 3-to-4 months and defending her world titles multiple times throughout the year.

From a competition standpoint, the former Olympic Gold medalist and World Amateur Champion (5x) was also a risk-taker, locking horns with former world titlists (Eva Wahlstrom, Victoria Noelia Bustos, Cindy Serrano) and world title challengers (Kimberly Connor) at an early point in her pro career.

The combined record of Taylor’s opponents going into their fights with the Ireland native: a robust 80-12-6.

More important, Taylor fought with power and precision, grounded in sound fundamentals. And neither the magnitude of the moment, nor the size of stage—whether Madison Square Garden, the Barclays Center, or a jam-packed O2 Arena—ever seemed to faze her.

In fact, Taylor didn’t appear to feel pressure, she applied it: dominating fellow undefeated fighters with clinical precision and giving fits to women who lacked her pedigree.

It was as if Taylor was on level 5 of a retro video game, and her opponents were still “loading.”

And boxing pundits and fans started to take notice.

Taylor even garnered high praise from her peers, including Middleweight Champ Claressa Shields—the Boxing Writers Association of America’s 2018 Female Fighter of the Year—who tweeted:

“. . . (Katie Taylor)! We are neck to neck [sic]!, Even though I say I’m the GWOAT that is manifestation for the future! All the respect in the world to Katie, she’s dope!”

Taken together, Taylor’s activity level, accomplishments, strength of opposition, and sheer dominance tipped the scales in her favor as our consensus pick for the best female fighter of 2018.<