Eddie Hearn hasn’t given up the idea of staging a Katie Taylor fight in Ireland’s most famed arena.
It just won’t likely materialize for her next fight.
The head of Matchroom recently met with MMA superstar Conor Mcgregor, a proud Irishman who has sung Taylor’s praises, about the possibility of bringing the lightweight undisputed championship between Taylor and Puerto Rico’s Amanda Serrano to Dublin’s Croke Park, one of the biggest stadiums in Europe.
After Hearn recently suggested that it seemed unlikely that he could promote the highly regarded rematch between Taylor and Serrano at Croke Park, citing operational costs, McGregor reached out to the promoter to see if he could offer financial help. The two met at a pub in Dublin on Monday to go over potential scenarios.
While Croke Park still remains an unlikely destination for Taylor-Serrano II, Hearn said in a recent interview that the venue is on the table for the fall. In the meantime, Hearn said he expects Taylor and Serrano to run it back at 3Arena, a popular but relatively modest amphitheater in Dublin.
“We talked about Croke Park,” Hearn said of his meeting with McGregor in an interview with iD Boxing. “We talked about how the fight would work, what the route is for Katie. We talked about other stuff as well.
“It does look likely that Taylor-Serrano will end up at 3Arena and then we’ll do a Croke Park fight in September with his support and hopefully the government’s support as well. But we’ll see what happens in the next couple of weeks. Just a really good day [with McGregor].”
The first fight between Taylor and Serrano was considered a milestone for women’s boxing and arguably the most dramatic fight of 2022. Taylor won a close decision before a sell-out crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The rematch was announced a few weeks ago at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, after Serrano outpointed Erika Cruz Hernandez over 10 competitive rounds to fully unify the featherweight division. Now Serrano will move up in weight again to challenge Taylor for her four lightweight belts.