During her professional career, Katie Taylor fought in London, New York, Philadelphia and Boston, but never in Ireland.
Tickets at Dublin’s 3 Arena are sold out – no surprise after Taylor and Amanda Serrano sold out Madison Square Garden the year before. Dublin Castle hosted the press conference ahead of Saturday’s match between Taylor and Chantel Cameron.
The 36-year-old Taylor will seek to defeat her British super lightweight rival to become the undisputed champion in two divisions. The Olympic champion who has a legion of Irish fans around the world will finally have a professional fight on home soil.
“The atmosphere will be electrifying. It’s been a long wait,” said Taylor (22-0, 6 KOs), the lightweight champion who won gold at the 2012 Olympics.
His return highlights Ireland’s complicated relationship with boxing, the country’s most successful sport at Olympic level. There has been no major professional fight since gunmen opened fire during a weigh-in at a Dublin hotel in 2016.
US authorities said the attack was part of a feud between drug gangs, and the intended target was Daniel Kinahan, one of the founders of MTK Global, a boxing management company, following a $5 million announcement by Claire Cronin, the US ambassador to Ireland. It was closed soon after. Reward for information leading to the “financial destruction” of a criminal group.
Cameron (17-0, 8 KOs) is fully capable of crashing Taylor’s party.
“I think I’m his worst nightmare,” Cameron said on Thursday. “We’ve seen her performance against other opponents she’s struggled against, and I’ll bring more than that to the table.”
