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The Irish homecoming of Katie Taylor may not happen in the country’s biggest and most storied sporting stadium.
According to Taylor’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, the apparently prohibitive “operational costs” to stage an event at Dublin’s legendary Croke Park may mean the coveted rematch between Taylor, the undisputed lightweight champion, and Amanda Serrano, the multi-division champion, may have to take place elsewhere.
Croke Park seats over 80,000 spectators and is one of the largest venues in Europe.
Hearn, however, insisted that the rematch, if it happens, will most certainly take place in Ireland. First, however, Serrano must be victorious over Mexico’s Erika Cruz, a Hearn client, on Feb. 4 in an undisputed featherweight championship at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Boxing fans have been clamoring for a rematch to one of the best fights in 2022. Taylor edged Brooklyn’s Serrano over 10 dramatic rounds for the 135-pound championship in front of a sell-out crowd at Madison Square Garden last summer. Observers have referred to the event as a watershed moment in women’s boxing.
Taylor, an Olympian, has never fought in Ireland as a professional, despite being one of the country’s most recognizable sporting stars.
“We’re in conversations with the government,” Hearn told Boxing Social. “I don’t want to say too much. People don’t really want to hear about operational costs but when you’ve got a place that is probably twice as expensive as [London’s] Wembley Stadium to host an event there…”
“With this fight, it will be in Ireland. It has to. And it could be at a stadium, it could be at an arena. Wherever it is, this fight has to happen in Ireland. We’re working with that. The first thing’s first, listen, we’ve got Cruz, and Cruz is the WBA world champion. We believe she can beat Serrano. And that stops everything. But if Amanda Serrano beats Cruz on Feb. 4 in MSG, I believe you will see Taylor-Serrano in Ireland. Fingers crossed to entertaining that.”