Katie Taylor’s win against Chantelle Cameron for the undisputed super lightweight world championship last night in Dublin rears the obvious question, who will she fight next and where will she have that fight?
Immediately after the fight last evening at the 3Arena Taylor called for a trilogy with her British rival at the 82,300 seater Croke Park, which sits just across the road from where the two women have now battled twice.
Croke Park charges near double the price of England’s national stadium, Wembley. Hearn and Matchroom have longed to pack out the Irish version even before they started to work with Taylor.
“We just need it to be in line with every other stadium because otherwise we can’t deliver what Katie deserves.” Hearn said in yesterday’s post fight press conference. “Of course, every athlete, every boxer wants to make money. Katie has a team to push that! But, I wanna give her what she deserves. We are the ones under pressure, it's all very well saying ‘ohh, she changed the face of the sport, she broke down barriers. When it is all said and done, you better make sure you get what you deserve while you have done all those things. So we want to make sure that if she is fighting at Wembley Stadium, she receives the same purse if she fights at Croke Park.
“Some people don’t like to talk about the money side, I will because I have to make sure she absolutely gets what she deserves, at the current cost she just wouldn’t [at Croke Park]. The numbers don’t make sense because I have to deliver her the right number because it’s my job. How can you not provide that? You guys have had a pretty rough week. Tonight, you look around and I’m not being funny, when we come to this country, not sounding cheesy, but the welcome we receive is unbelievable. It is the only place I don’t get booed. If we were asking for money, if we were asking for a free stadium, we are not.” Hearn explained. “We are just saying let one of your greatest athletes of all time have her night! Also for a night that will drive unbelievable tourism and financial benefit to the city and the country. More so than some yachting tournament that they will support.”
