THE LONG-AWAITED FIGHT in Croke Park between Katie Taylor and the Puerto Rican Amanda Serrano will not happen because boxing promotion company Matchroom are not willing to meet the GAA’s rent cost for the Croke Park.
Taylor and Serrano fought in Madison Square Garden last year, where Taylor won by split decision.
The win meant that the Bray native Taylor defended her boxing titles and undefeated record in professional boxing.
Since then, a huge drive to get Taylor a homecoming fight in Ireland's national stadium Croke Park has been underway.
Taylor was expected to fight Serrano last Autumn, but the fight never happened.
Instead, Taylor went onto face and defend her world lightweight titles for a seventh time against the south American Karen Elizabeth Carabajal in Wembley last October.
The boxing rivals will now possibly face other in Dublin's 3Arena next May.
🥊 #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
Commenting on The MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) Hour with Ariel Helwani, Taylor's promoter Eddie Hearn gave reasons for the move to the location that only holds 9,000 spectators as opposed to Croke Park's 80,000.
"The cost of hire, the cost of everything involved with the event is three times nearly more than staging it at Wembley Stadium," said Hearn. "It's unbelievable. It's so frustrating.
"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 on that.
"But we're so far out on the possibility with the cost of running that show and we're out of time in terms of delivering that date to the broadcaster so we've got to move."
Serrano's next fight will be against Erika Cruz this Saturday at New York's Madison Square Garden, Hearn added that the situation will become clearer after the fight if she wins.
"So now we'll be in a big arena in Dublin, subject to Serrano winning (against Cruz) and subject to tying up a deal and then hopefully in September we revisit Croke Park. It's frustrating," he said.
"But at the same time, I promised Katie Taylor would be in Ireland for her next fight. It will be the most sensational atmosphere wherever we are but we'll see what happens then."
When promoted if Croke Park fight would go ahead, the boxing promoter essentially ended the notion that it would happen.
"Sooner or later you have to make a decision, you have to make a move and the move is we want to go on May 20th.
"That's the date, so unless we go now, it's going to be another moment that we miss a fight for Katie in Ireland."
The cost of the first fight between Taylor and Serrano went for around €70, that figure in Ireland's capital is expected to exceed that.
See More: 3Arena, Amanda Serrano, Boxing, Katie Taylor
