Katie Taylor's Croke Park homecoming hopes dashed due to costs

Professional boxer Katie Taylor was expected to face her competitor Amanda Serrano at Croke Park later this year, but the high costs of the GAA venue have halted these dreams.

The Bray native's expected fight against Serrano is instead due to take place in Dublin's 3Arena, which is capped at around 1,000 capacity in comparison to 80,000 at the Dublin city centre stadium. Taylor's promoter, Eddie Hearn, confirms that the change of venue was because of the high costs in an interview with Boxing King Media.

Talks between the parties had reached a dead end, his bones of contention including a claim that the home of Gaelic Games was three times more expensive to rent than Wembley Stadium.

"The cost of hire and everything involved in the event is three times hire nearly than staging it in Wembley Stadium," Hearn stated.

The legendary sportswoman previously defeated Serrano in front of a sell-out crowd at Madison Square Garden.

Hearn says: "Ultimately Katie Taylor has financial demands for this fight and so does Amanda Serrano and we want to make sure we deliver on that. We're so far out on that possibility on the cost of running that show and we're out of time on delivering that date to the broadcaster.“

"And people will say on social media, ‘Oh, pay the money, Hearn!’ It’s like, no, no: the fighters want this much money. If we do it at Croke Park, even with a sellout, with the cost that they want to charge, it’s not possible to give the fighters what they deserve.

“So, we will go to an arena in Ireland if we make Taylor-Serrano and if Serrano comes through on Saturday night," he added. "One thing I promise is we will be in Ireland for Katie Taylor’s next fight. That will happen."

Katie is a sporting legend, She’s an exemplary model for young people to emulate. She has been an ambassador for Irish sport & the country as a whole.
The government must not throw in the towel in securing Croke Park for her homecoming fight in front of 80,000 fans #KatieTaylor pic.twitter.com/r9ZtaT7Tev

— John Brady TD (@johnbradysf) February 2, 2023

In his interview with Boxing King Media, Hearn acknowledged that a lot of the additional event costs — such as security and policing — “are outside of the control of Croke Park”, but added that “there’s a lot of costs that aren’t.”

The promoter also expressed his disappointment that the Irish government ultimately hadn’t lent any support to Matchroom’s efforts to stage the fight at Croke Park.

Previous Minister for Sport, Jack Chambers, had been responsive to the request - but a December 2022 reshuffle in the Cabinet has changed things.

“When you talk about ‘government help’ or ‘support’, people think that we shouldn’t be asking for that," Hearn continued.

"I’m not having a pop at the Irish government but if the government are supporting sporting events — which they do — how can you not support an event that will quite simply be one of the greatest events in the history of Irish sport? It’s disappointing.”

The fight against Serrano will take place on 20th May 2023. Tickets will presumably sell out like gold dust, given the low capacity.