By Darragh Culhane
Copyright irishmirror
Katie Taylor has been told that she will only be able to secure her dream Croke Park fight by calling on the help of Jake Paul.
Taylor has long spoken about her aim to fight at Ireland’s biggest stadium, and now, aged 39, it seems the chances of that are dwindling.
The Bray boxer is promoted by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom, the popular promoter had previously been vocal about not being able to reach an agreement with Croke Park bosses over hosting a fightnight at the stadium.
But Taylor’s rival, Chantelle Cameron, said all hope is not lost and that she must deal with Jake Paul.
Cameron signed with Paul’s MVP promotions earlier this year and told Sky Sports that he is the man to make the fight happen.
“She does deserve her Croke Park swansong. I feel like Jake Paul is the only one who’s going to give her that opportunity, the only one who’s going to invest all that money for her to have that night.”
“I would much rather box Katie on neutral ground. But she is the champion. She is the star. I’m just going to have to do what I have to do. I’ve done it before, I can do it again.”
Taylor suffered her only professional defeat at the hands of Cameron in 2023, ruining her Dublin homecoming. The Olympic champion would bounce back to earn a thrilling victory in November of that year.
If Taylor is to return to the ring it seems likely that it will be against Cameron to complete their trilogy. It is believed that Taylor’s camps had entertained the idea of a trilogy bout coming into 2024, but after a co-main slot against Amanda Serrano at the AT&T Stadium came about in front of a Netflix audience, Taylor opted to go down that route.
Such was the success of that second bout, Taylor and Serrano returned to Madison Square Garden where the Bray boxer soundly beat her greatest rival.
Cameron is the WBC Interim super-lightweight champion, with Taylor the title holder. The organisation granted Taylor’s camp a 21-day extension to hash out negotiations with mandatory challenger Cameron.
