Katie Taylor is set to fight Amanda Serrano on 20th of May in Dublin, but not at Croke Park.
The 3Arena has been lined up to host the massively-anticipated rematch as Taylor's representatives Matchroom Boxing were unable to do a deal with the GAA in order for Croke Park to stage the event.
Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn has made his first public comments on the matter on Wednesday evening and he has pointed the finger at the GAA and the Irish government over the failure to make the fight happen.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani Wednesday evening, Eddie Hearn claimed the GAA's rental costs for staging the fight were close to three times of what Wembley Stadium would charge.
"The cost of hire and everything involved in the event is three times hire nearly than staging it in Wembley Stadium."
"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."
Hearn was somewhat more animated when speaking to BoxingKingMedia.com about it
Ultimately and bizarrely, the cost of doing a show at Croke Park is three times more than Wembley. 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.
When you talk about government help or support, people think you shouldn't be asking for that. If the government - and 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 be quite simply one of the greatest events in the history of Irish sport?
"Our focus is a million percent on going to Croke Park, we do need their support and we need the Irish government’s support as well. Not in terms of allowing it to happen but this is a very expensive operation to go into Croke Park and put a fight on"
'In September we revisit Croke Park'
The 3Arena will instead host the event. The Point has hosted many famous Irish boxing nights - Dunne-Cordoba comes to mind - but the news will home as a huge disappointment to many.
Katie Taylor has never fought professionally at home and her intentions to fight Serrano at Croke Park were clear in the wake of their epic bout last year.
The Point's capacity is in the range of 9,000. Hearn had hoped at least 70,000 people would fill Croke Park for Taylor-Serrano II
Hearn however left the door open for a fight in Croke Park later in the year for Taylor when speaking to Helwani.
“Now we’ll be in a big arena in Dublin and then hopefully in September we revisit Croke Park.”
Before any of this can happen, Serrano must defeat Erika Cruz this Saturday in New York. Katie Taylor will reportedly be ringside to watch the fight.
