Katie Taylor “deserves the Croke Park show”, boxer and Olympian Emmett Brennan has said.
Many had hoped that Croke Park would host Ms Taylor in her much anticipated rematch against Amanda Serrano in May.
Croke Park charges €400,000 in rent for the night but asked Ms Taylor’s promoters, Matchroom, to cover the additional security costs; Matchroom declined and the fight will now be held in Dublin's 3Arena.
“It’s a bit of a mess but I think most people are focusing on the negatives,” Mr Brennan told The Hard Shoulder.
“The positives are that Katie Taylor is still fighting in Ireland.
“Obviously, everyone wants the big Croke Park show [but] it would have also been a hard stadium to fill - 80,000 people is an awful lot of people.
“Especially, as there’s a lot of people losing their jobs - you know how expensive Dublin is.
“It would have been hard to sell 80,000 tickets in the first place.”
8 December 2021; Katie Taylor is interviewed during a media day ahead of her Undisputed Lightweight Championship bout against Firuza Sharipova at the Liverpool Guild of Students in Liverpool, England. Photo by Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing via SportsfileMs Taylor won Gold for Ireland at the 2012 Olympics and Mr Emmett predicted that this would not be her only fight this year.
“She’s a role model,” he said.
“She single-handedly brought women’s sports and women’s boxing to where it is.
“Of course, she deserves the Croke Park show but unfortunately boxing is a business and the likes of Matchroom are looking at this from a business point of view.”
Government intervention
Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews told The Hard Shoulder that he had been in touch with the Government on the issue.
“In fairness, I think the Minister for Sport, he also wants to see this fight,” he said.
“I think everyone wants to see this fight and my understanding is that Government have been in contact, there is a process to follow and he has been in touch with Brian Peters [Katie Taylor’s manager].”
Main image: Split of Katie Taylor and Croke Park.
