Eddie Hearn has admitted that Katie Taylor won’t be fighting at Croke Park next due to the cost of renting out the stadium.
Taylor has expressed her desire to fight at Croke Park for a long time now, and it looked as though a rematch with Amanda Serrano at the famous Dublin stadium was a real possibility.
Serrano is fighting Erika Cruz in an undisputed world featherweight title bout this Saturday, and if the Puerto Rican boxer wins she will likely take on Taylor next for a second time this year, although Croke Park will not host the event.
Speaking on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Hearn revealed that the cost of staging a fight at Croke Park would significantly impact how much Taylor and Serrano would make.
Eddie Hearn on why Katie Taylor won’t fight at Croke Park next.
“The cost of hire, the cost of everything involved with the event is three times nearly more than staging it at Wembley Stadium. It’s unbelievable, it’s so frustrating,” Hearn said.
“People will just tweet me and go, ‘Shut up Hearn, just do it anyway.’ It doesn’t work like that, it’s a business. Ultimately, Katie Taylor has her financial demands for this fight, so does Amanda Serrano, and we want to make sure we deliver them that.
“But we’re so far out on that possibility with the cost of running that show, and we’re out of time in terms of delivering that date to the broadcaster that we’ve got to move.
“Now we’ll be in a big arena in Dublin, subject to Serrano winning and subject to tying up a deal, and then hopefully in September we revisit Croke Park.
“It’s frustrating, but at the same time I promised Katie Taylor we’d be in Ireland for her next fight, it will be the most sensational atmosphere wherever we are, but we’ll see what happens on Saturday night.”
🥊 #TaylorSerrano2 UPDATE! @EddieHearn has confirmed on @arielhelwani’s MMA Hour that the 3 Arena will “quite possibly” be the venue for #TaylorSerrano2 providing Serrano is victorious this weekend‼️ https://t.co/4cREgpbBGk pic.twitter.com/dINXK9qCnQ
— International Boxing News (@IntBoxingNews) February 1, 2023
The 3Arena in Dublin has emerged as the front runner.
Hearn has insisted that he still wants Taylor to fight in Dublin on May 20th, with the 3Arena emerging as the likely host for the Irishwoman’s long-awaited homecoming bout.
Serrano’s involvement is largely based on whether she wins this weekend, but Hearn intends to see Taylor fight on home soil this May regardless of who the opponent is.
The 3Arena can hold roughly 9,000 people for a boxing event, which pales in comparison to Croke Park’s capacity, although Hearn has stressed that hosting a fight at the home of the GAA remains a possibility for September.
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