Promotor Eddie Hearn is planning Monday talks with Conor McGregor in a Dublin dash to save Katie Taylor’s Croke Park dream.
The Matchroom chief is flying to the capital for discussions with the UFC star turned whiskey magnate to fill a €700,000 gap in bringing Taylor’s rematch with Amanda Serrano to GAA HQ on May 20. Hearn admits he is facing a losing battle to stage the fight for the women’s undisputed lightweight title at the home of the GAA.
But he is hoping talks with McGregor could help him host a Taylor bout at Croker in September if time runs out for the May date with Serrano. He said: “I spoke to him a few times and I will be flying out to see him on Monday.
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“Our date is May 20 which is immovable because it’s built around the DAZN schedule.” Hearn even joked the meeting might be at McGregor’s Black Forge Inn after McGregor contacted him on social media last week suggesting he could put money up to help stage the fight.
He said: “On Monday I’m hoping to fly into Ireland, to the Black Forge. We have been communicating on Twitter messages.
“I noticed he followed me on Twitter and I saw his tweet that he wants to make it happen. He loves Katie Taylor and he would love to help get it at Croke Park.
“I haven’t given up but there is probably a 6 or €700,000 deficit of where we need to be. Maybe he can fill that. But it’s not a publicity stunt, I think he feels like it would be cool to be a part of that.”
Hearn faced public backlash and criticism from Croke Park boss Peter McKenna as well as leading politicians after he said the cost was too high for him to bring the fight to the GAA home and that he wanted Government support.
The plan is currently to stage the rematch of Taylor’s win over Serrano at the 3Arena on May 20 as the Aviva Stadium is hosting the Heineken Champions Cup final on the same day. If that happens then Hearn wants to look at September at Croke Park when the GAA inter-county season has finished and there are no other major sporting events in the capital.
But he reiterated his claim that Croke Park costs three times more to host a boxing event than England’s national soccer stadium Wembley. He said: “This is the first time I’m up against politicians who can wrangle words better than me.
“They are saying the rental charge is only a little bit more than Wembley but I’m not talking about the rental charge. I’m saying that the costs that Croke Park have told us we have to take care of are three times more than the costs of Wembley.
“We told them we think it’s unbelievably expensive and excessive and we feel like they should take care of certain things. You do generally pay for security but stewarding might be supplied by the stadium.
"The laying of the pitch, etc. It’s approximately €1.3-1.4m in costs to stage it there. Wembley is about £400k.” And he insists Taylor won’t be taking a pay cut to make it happen and Matchroom won’t take a hit financially on the event either.
Hearn added: “It’s not just a case of Katie deserves it, pay it. Because Katie Taylor deserves to get paid and she has a number that she wants to get paid for that fight and so does Amanda Serrano.
“If we do it at Croke Park, we lose money. I’m not doing it. I’m not losing money on a fight like that
“So what I’m talking to Conor about is potentially bridging that gap.”
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