Katie Taylor's face will be on every WBC women's belt from now on, alongside Laila Ali

The retired three-time undisputed champion fitted a portrait of herself to the WBC belt at the governing body's convention in Acapulco and called it the cherry on the cake of her career.

By Combat Sports UK Staff · Published Tue 10 Nov, 21:38 UK · AI-assisted reporting

Katie Taylor holds the WBC belt with a medallion bearing her face at the WBC Convention in Acapulco — Photo: WBC

Post by @WBCBoxing on X

Katie Taylor's face will be on every WBC women's world title belt from now on, alongside Laila Ali's, the World Boxing Council announced on Tuesday.

"From now on, every WBC belt for women will have Katie's face joining Laila Ali," the WBC said. "Thank you, Katie, for being an inspiration and an everlasting part of the WBC family!"

At the gala dinner of the 64th annual WBC Convention in Acapulco, Taylor placed a ceramic portrait bearing her image onto the WBC's Mega Belt, in a ceremony unveiling the belt and marking her place on it. On the women's belts, her image now sits beside Laila Ali's; the circular side plates on the green and gold WBC belt also honour Muhammad Ali and former WBC president José Sulaimán.

Taylor told Heraldo de México in an exclusive interview that every great fighter in the sport's history had held the WBC belt at some point in their career, and that having her image linked to such an iconic belt was an honour she could hardly put into words. She said she had received many awards over the years, but this was the cherry on the cake of her career. When she started, she added, women's boxing was not even allowed in her country.

The Irish fighter retired in September as a three-time undisputed champion, and WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed her as a WBC Ambassador for Life the same month. She told the paper that leaving after 30 years devoted to boxing was a hard decision, but that she had gone out at the right time and at the top, and that she could not have had a better ending than finishing her career at Croke Park as undisputed champion.

Taylor has called a fight between Alycia Baumgardner and Caroline Dubois, who holds the WBC and WBO lightweight titles, "probably the biggest fight in women's boxing right now".

In this story

Alycia Baumgardner