Katie Taylor’s father Pete is adamant his champion daughter will fight at the 3Arena on May 20.
On Tuesday, Matchroom Boxing confirmed in a statement that Amanda Serrano sustained an injury, which has ruled her out of fighting the Bray native on May 20 in Dublin.
But Pete said he has no reason to believe Katie won’t be fighting on May 20 – against a different opponent.
READ MORE: 'Crime committed' over Katie Taylor Dublin fight as Chantelle Cameron has her say
He told us: “I don’t know if she has postponed it or if it is just a different opponent.
“It may mean that Serrano has postponed to fight at Croke Park but there is still going to be a fight on May 20, maybe.
“Katie isn’t injured… so there will probably be a different opponent.
“I don’t know the deals that Eddie Hearn is making but I’d say the fight… Serrano must have a serious enough injury if she is postponing but I’d say they will probably get a different opponent because you have the booking dates for the 3Arena and no doubt you have to pay a deposit.
“So I would say they are just looking for another different opponent.
“The Serrano fight is postponed but they will probably have another opponent there.”
But Eddie Hearn said on Wednesday that he does not want Katie to fight in the 3Arena on May 20.
“At the moment [Katie Taylor fighting in Dublin on May 20] is not the plan,” Hearn said Wednesday afternoon.
“We would like this fight to happen in July and that opens the possibility of revisiting a Stadium. But if the delay goes on until August, September, or October then yes, she will fight [someone else]. Our plan for 2023 for Katie is Amanda Serrano and Chantelle Cameron and that is still the plan.
"However, if the Serrano fight was delayed until [later in the year] then we could look at Chantelle Cameron. I feel like the injury won’t mean a substantial delay, but we will keep across that over the next week.”
But Pete said he hasn’t heard if the 3Arena date has been cancelled – as his lightweight boxer Gary Cully is on the match card as well. Pete said he has heard nothing from promoters about a cancellation.
“My (lightweight) boxer Gary Cully is on that fight. He has a co-headline in it and we’ve had no word saying it has been called off. We’ve heard nothing about it.”
Pete also opened up about the possibility of Katie fighting in Croke Park – saying she deserves the homecoming.
“She deserves the homecoming…but €1.2 million – it is three times more than what Wembley costs.
“It is true. With security and everything, the whole cost of Wembley is €400,000. It’s €1.2 million with Croke Park.
“It’s scandalous. Look, if the fight wasn’t going ahead in Croke Park, if it was two years ago they would’ve blamed other reasons that it wasn’t going ahead but now that’s all gone, they can’t blame that so they have to look for other reasons to blame.
“At the end of the day, it’s €1.2 million and then the boxers won’t get what they are due because all the money goes to finance Croke Park.
“Plus the day wasn’t great with the Heineken Cup Final being on as well on May 20 so I’d say Gardai would’ve been fairly well stretched.
“I don’t think Katie needs Serrano to fill the 3Arena. If she can fight any opponent and it is a homecoming, she’d fill the arena. I actually think the Serrano fight is too big for the 3Arena because there would be a lot of people disappointed. (The 3Arena) only holds 9,000 people and if you look at the 3Arena and Croke Park, the Serrano fight is more suitable where you’re going to get the 60,000 or 70,000 people in.
“I think it would’ve been hard to do it on May 20 when you had 40,000 sports fans going to the rugby as well.”
But he praised UFC fighter Conor McGregor for "supporting” another champion and helping to try and get Katie’s fight to happen in Croke Park. McGregor has previously publicly offered to pay Katie’s half a million security bill.
“It’s great for Conor as well. It’s great for everybody. It’s great to see one combat sports person looking after the other. Only positive things can come out of it.”
But on Wednesday, Hearn dismissed the notion that Serrano's injury was a deliberate ploy to land a fight in Croke Park.
“Everything happens for a reason, maybe it goes to Croke Park now in the summertime. The cynics will probably say it’s a made-up injury and we are delaying getting the fight at Croke Park but it’s genuinely not," added the promoter.
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