Report: Katie Taylor Irish Homecoming card OFF

Katie Taylor‘s long-promised Irish homecoming fight looks to be off – again.

With her initially mooted homecoming last November not taking place – and Taylor instead winning the WBA lightweight title in Cardiff – it was planned by promoter Eddie Hearn for a big Dublin fight night this April.

The Matchroom boss looked to have unofficially confirmed the date last week, telling IFL TV that Taylor would return home for her first fight in Ireland on Saturday April 14th – however reports this afternoon contradict this.

Gavan Casey of the42.ie has revealed that Taylor [8(4)-0] will instead box on the undercard of two-time middleweight world title challenger Danny Jacobs on Saturday April 28th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

A unification with Argentina’s IBF champion Victoria Noelia Bustos [18(0)-4(0)] remains the preference for Taylor’s team.

The Matchroom USA bill will be broadcast on premium American cable channel HBO, as well as on Sky Sports on this side of the Atlantic.

It has long been the plan of Matchroom to build Taylor in the U.S., with both Barry and Eddie Hearn noting how they saw the Olympic gold medalist’s long term future being Stateside. However, it was hoped and assumed that the Bray legend would fight at home at least once before embarking on this journey.

Worryingly, plans for a fight in Dublin have reportedly been shelved “indefinitely”.

Taylor has fought at the Barclays Center venue once before, dominating and stopping Jasmine Clarkson in three rounds on the Mikey Garcia v Adrian Broner undercard last July.

Official confirmation from Matchroom regarding their change of plans for Taylor is awaited.

Cork’s Spike O’Sullivan [27(19)-2(1)] is currently in negotiations to face Jacobs in the headline bout following his breakout win over Antoine Douglas last month.