“Government Talks Ongoing” – Matchroom give Katie Taylor Croke Park Update
Frank Smith sang from a similar hymn sheet to Eddie Hearn when discussing Katie Taylor – Chantelle Cameron III.
Matchroom are looking to make the threepeat for Croke Park this May and are currently in talks with the venue and both fighters to get the fight made.
It’s not the first time the promotional outfit have dealt with Peter McKenna and Croke Park – they had hoped to make Taylor versus Amanda Serrano at the famous venue in 2023 – but a fallout surrounding costs saw the homecoming downgraded to the 3Arena.
The fact that fall out played out publicly upset the powers that be within the Gaelic Athletic Association, something which Hearn and his team are looking to avoid this time around.
As a result, all queries regarding the fight and a potentially huge Croke Park night are dealt with cautiously. A similar approach is taken when discussing Government assistance in making a historic event.
Speaking to Irish-boxing.com Smith revealed government talks are ongoing and that the Aviva Stadium and the 3Arena are venue backups.
‘There were obviously things last time around with Croke [Park] but look we want to work in a positive manner to try and make this fight happen,” Smith tells Irish-boxing.com.
“We are in discussions to help make that happen. Conversations with government anywhere in the world aren’t overnight. They take time, that’s normal, it’s a process we have to go through,” he adds before revealing Dublin back up plans are in place.
“If we can’t do [Croke Park] for whatever reason the focus will still be to do that fight in May. If we can’t do it in the stadium we will go back to the 3Arena again because they were two of the best nights that I’ve ever experienced. We’ve done shows around the world but the atmosphere in the 3Arena and the fight those two put on, leaving everything in the ring was amazing. We have to commend Chantelle and Katie because without them it wouldn’t be possible. It was a special night.”
Pushed on what stage talks are with both the government and the GAA Smith delibritley looked to keep things sensible.
“Once it’s signed it’s signed. We work in this crazy sport of boxing were you can be very confident and then something doesn’t come off, lets see,” he adds.
“We have had conversations with the Aviva and we’ve publicly said Croke Park would be great if we could do that, but the Aviva is a brilliant stadium. Once you go below 40,000 it’s really tough because of the costs associated with doing it. We will have news soon because we want to do that fight in May and we are running out of time.”
