Her adoring public’s long wait to see Katie Taylor fight at a home venue rumbles on after the rematch against her closest rival, Amanda Serrano, was postponed.
The Puerto Rican pugilist is currently the undisputed Champion in the Featherweight division having beaten mandatory challenger Erika Cruiz. Her withdrawl at this time is another blow to Eddie Hearn, Brian Peters and the Taylor camp at large as they have been doing their utmost to get her a home fixture.
However, their efforts have been met with roadblocks at every turn. Undoubtedly the most disappointing of which was that what should have been an absolute formality – the Queen Of The Ring having her homecoming in the country’s only world class stadium, Croke Park – has been botched.
The ‘party line’ seems to be that expense was the stumbling block. Now there’s a shock. Not. The GAA are happy to harvest money from wherever they can get it and have no problem with anybody getting a slice of it, bar the only people who should be – the players.
How brilliant it would be to see those involved with some of the bigger stadia – somewhere like Pairc Ui Chaoimh or Semple Stadium or Pearse Stadium or Clones – calling Croke Park’s bluff and make their venue available for what could and should be one of the great Irish sporting occasions.
Unfortunately, gut feeling says that, like RTE with Father Ted many moons ago, they are more likely to turn their noses up at a gold mine.