Katie Taylor paid a flying visit to Dublin yesterday hosting media in the Round Room at the Mansion House. She was promoting her homecoming World Championship bout against Chantelle Cameron which will take place on Saturday, May 20th, the same night as the Heineken Champions Cup Final.
You can look from the Aviva Stadium where the rugby will take place to the Three Arena on the other side of the river and it promises to be one of the sporting weekends of the year.
Boxing has always been as much about the build-up as the bout and if it had not been for all the talk of Serrano and Croke Park, this would have felt like a major win, giving Taylor the opportunity of fighting competitively for the first time as a professional in Dublin.
Outside of boxing and the somewhat wider invested sporting circles though, there is a sense of anti-climax that it is a sporting rather than a society event.
There will be a rush for the 9,000 tickets that will go on sale shortly and the hype of hosting a big fight night will still be enormous.
It was revealed yesterday that Conor McGregor will have some involvement as a sponsor but that he won’t be involved in the promotion of the fight. McGregor was in Savannah, Georgia, leading the St Patrick’s Day parade at the weekend.
In sporting terms, it should be a great contest. It is a chance for Taylor to become a two-weight undisputed World Champion when she bids to add Cameron’s Super Lightweight title to her own Lightweight one.
Stepping up a weight means that Taylor will be fighting at 10 stone or 63.5 KG as opposed to 9 stone and 9 pounds or 61.2 KG.
Cameron first became World Champion in October 2020 and united all five belts in November of last year. Taylor has been the undisputed champion at Lightweight since June 2019.
Cameron, from Northampton in England, beat Jennifer McCaskill of the United States in Abu Dhabi to unite the Super lightweight titles.
“Once Serrano pulled out this was the natural fight to make,” said Taylor. “It’s two undefeated, reigning Undisputed World Champions going up against each other and I believe that’s the first time that’s ever happened in the modern era of the sport.”
“People have been talking about this fight for a long time now so I’m delighted it’s happening and I’m looking forward to becoming a two-weight Undisputed Champion in Dublin on May 20.”
“It feels surreal that the fight is actually happening,” said Cameron. “It feels like my whole professional career has been based around this fight and I never imagined it would actually happen for one reason or another.”
“I’m no stranger to boxing away from home now and to be going into Katie’s backyard for her homecoming is massive. I’m glad to be a part of history again like I was in Abu Dhabi. I know what I will be up against and that I am the underdog but I relish that. The fight will be electric. We both are experienced, we are both game and we are both are coming to win.”
Eddie Hearn revisited the disappointment of not being able to secure Croke Park for the fight, doubling down on his assertion that Croke park was three times more expensive than Wembley Stadium, but choosing to ignore again the fact that it was comparing apples with oranges when it came to who was bearing the costs of security and everything that goes on around a major even outside of the infrastructure.
Whether the Serrano fight ever happens or whether it would take place at the GAA Headquarters is an argument for another day and Hearn was quick to move on then to the job at hand, of promoting Taylor and Cameron.
“I can’t wait to be a part of the historic moment when Katie Taylor makes her homecoming in Ireland to attempt to make history and become a two-weight undisputed Champion,” he said.
“On May 20 you will see one of the greatest nights in Irish sporting history as the icon of Irish boxing will be part of an event that will have the eyes of the world watching.”
“We’re building an incredible undercard to accompany a wonderful main event which I think will surpass even the heights of Taylor vs. Serrano. Get ready Ireland, we’re coming.”
That undercard already looks set to include three other World Title fights including Terri Harper against Cecilia Braekhus.
The fight will be broadcast exclusively live on DAZN, the streaming service whaere all of Taylor’s recent fights have been shown.
