[2] Hugely popular in Ireland, she is credited with raising the profile of women's boxing at home and abroad, and is regarded as the outstanding Irish athlete of her generation.

In November 2023 she repeated the feat, beating Chantelle Cameron in Dublin for the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC, and WBO titles, regaining the latter she initially won from Christina Linardatou in 2019.

She was a member of Bray Runners, a local athletics club, and several American colleges reportedly offered her sports scholarships while she was still studying at St Killian's.

At the 2006 European Amateur Championships in Warsaw, Poland, Taylor won her second successive gold medal by stopping reigning world champion Tatiana Chalaya of Russia, also collecting the tournament's Best Boxer award.

[19] On 21 March 2009 at The Dublin O2, Taylor won a 27–3 win over three-time Pan-American champion Caroline Barry of the United States on the undercard of a pro WBA super bantamweight world title fight between Bernard Dunne of Ireland and Ricardo Cordoba of Panama.

[28] In the semi-final on 8 August 2012, she proved far too good for Tajikistan's Mavzuna Chorieva and won in a 17–9 victory (R1: 3–1, R2: 4–2, R3: 6–3, R4: 4–3), booking her place in the final and guaranteeing her, at least, an Olympic silver medal.

[33] On 24 November 2014, Taylor won her fifth straight lightweight title in South Korea at the 2014 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships, defeating Yana Allekseevna of Azerbaijan.

[37] On 24 May 2016, Taylor qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics after defeating Victoria Torres in the quarter-finals of the lightweight division at the 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships.

[40][41] Taylor made her professional debut on 26 November 2016, scoring a third-round technical knockout (TKO) over Karina Kopińska at the Wembley Arena in London.

[43] She scored two more wins in March 2017—against Monica Gentili via fifth-round TKO[44] and Milena Koliva via PTS over eight rounds[45]—before facing Nina Meinke for the vacant WBA International female lightweight title[46] on 29 April 2017 at the Wembley Stadium.

With a badly swollen right eye, and after being on the receiving end of a flurry of punches, referee Howard Foster called a halt to the contest in the seventh round to save Meinke from further punishment, handing Taylor a TKO victory.

[49] Following a third-round stoppage victory via corner retirement (RTD) against Jasmine Clarkson in July,[50] Taylor faced former two-weight world champion Anahí Ester Sánchez for the vacant WBA female lightweight title on 28 October 2017 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

Taylor received a point deduction in the seventh for excessive holding, before keeping McCaskill at a distance and fighting at range for the next three rounds to secure a UD victory.

[52] Her next fight was a unification bout against reigning IBF female lightweight champion Victoria Bustos on 28 April 2018 at the Barclays Center in New York City.

[56] Taylor's first fight of 2019 was another unification bout, facing WBO female lightweight champion Rose Volante on 15 March at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Taylor started the fight strong, using her combination punching and movement to take control, dropping Volante to the canvas with a right hand in the opening round.

Volante had moments of success in the seventh round with heavy punches to the body of Taylor, before the Irish woman resumed her attacks to regain control.

After Volante was on the receiving end of a flurry of punches, and with a cut over her nose which appeared to be the result of a clash of heads, referee Benjy Esteves stepped in and called a halt to the contest to hand Taylor a ninth-round TKO victory and her third world title.

"[58] In December 2018, Irish journalist Evanne Ní Chuilinn stated that Taylor accused Delfine Persoon of turning down a "life-changing" amount of money to fight her.

[63] Persoon's management labelled Taylor's team "totally disrespectful" and claimed "psychological warfare" after a series of demands late in the fight week.

[citation needed] From the opening bell, Taylor came under relentless pressure from Persoon, forcing the Irish champion to fight off the back foot and rely on counter punching.

[72] For her next fight, Taylor elected to move up in weight, facing WBO female junior-welterweight champion Christina Linardatou on 2 November 2019 at the Manchester Arena.

After negotiations began to break down, Taylor's promoter, Eddie Hearn, revealed he was in talks with Delfine Persoon's team to secure a rematch for the 22 August date.

Taylor dropped her opponent to the canvas with a left hook at the end of the fourth round en route to a unanimous decision victory, with the judges' scorecards reading 100–89, 100–90, and 99–91.

[80] Taylor was next scheduled to defend her undisputed lightweight titles at the AO Arena against future two-weight champion Natasha Jonas, an opponent she had previously defeated in the quarter-finals at the 2012 London Olympics.

[88] Taylor successfully defended her undisputed lightweight titles for the seventh time against undefeated Argentine boxer, Karen Carabajal, on 29 October 2022 at the OVO Arena, Wembley[89] winning by unanimous decision (100–91, 98–92, and 99–91).

[98] Taylor was originally scheduled to make the first defense of her undisputed super lightweight title in a rescheduled rematch against Amanda Serrano that was the co-main event on July 20, 2024 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson card.

[102][103] Netflix reported that the bout had an "average minute audience" (AMA) of 47 million in the United States, making it the most-watched women's professional sporting event in U.S.

[116] She was a coach on RTÉ's Charity Lords of the Ring in 2009, and appeared in a Lucozade Sport advertisement in 2011 alongside English rapper Tinie Tempah and American musician Travis Barker.

[119][120][14][15] My Olympic Dream, Taylor's "illustrated memoir" with which she was helped by The Irish Times sports writer Johnny Watterson, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2012.