Ryan Tubridy calls on Croke Park to ‘rethink’ fees for Katie Taylor fight

The RTÉ star has weighed in on the money rows that seem to have scuppered Katie’s much-anticipated fight at the iconic Dublin grounds.

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn claimed this week that staging the Olympian’s bout against Amanda Serrano at Croke Park would cost three times more than Wembley Stadium.

Peter McKenna, the director of Croke Park, has since rejected the claim, saying “security” costs are what racked up booking bills as the GAA HQ “would have loved to have had Katie Taylor”.

Late Late Show host Ryan has now urged for “special dispensation” to be made for Katie.

"I think they should make a special dispensation in Croke Park to bring Katie Taylor home and give her the homecoming that woman deserves,” he told the Irish Mirror.

“She deserves a lot more than an overpriced hall, that is a beautiful hall, but she needs the respect she deserves and that is a fight in Croke Park.

"I would urge our friends in Croke Park to rethink the rent for one night only because she has served this country and she deserves that fight in that hallowed ground because it is a place in history and she has made history.

“We should respect her and her achievements and her family and her country. Get her to Croke Park.”

It was confirmed last December that Taylor that her team were hoping to stage the rematch of the April 2022 fight against Serrano in Croke Park.

“It’s a business,” Hearn told the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani this week.

"Ultimately, Katie Taylor has her financial demands for this fight. So does Amanda Serrano and we want to make sure we deliver on that.

"But we're so far out on the possibility with the cost of running that show and we're out of time in terms of delivering that date to the broadcaster so we've got to move."

When asked if the possibility of a Croke Park fight was "dead" for now, Hearn confirmed that was the case.

"Sooner or later you have to make a decision, you have to make a move and the move is we want to go on May 20.

"That's the date, so unless we go now, it's going to be another moment that we miss a fight for Katie in Ireland."

Amanda Serrano is due in the ring against Erika Cruz this Saturday at New York's Madison Square Garden.